IQt 


li    C. 


Report  of  Department  of jCommerce  and  Labor,  Bureau  of 
Standards,  Washington,  D*  C* 


CONDITIONS  IN  CERTAIN  CITIES  OF 
THE  STATE  OF  CALIFORNIA 


RELATIVE  TO 


UNIVERSITY 


WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES 


Printed  Under  Senate  Resolution  (Senator  Richard  J*  Welch), 
Special  Session 


SACRAMENTO 

FRIEND  WM.  RICHARDSON       -      -       SUPERINTENDENT  OF  STATE  PRINTING 

1912 


1(5 


LETTER  Of  TRANSMITTAL 

DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE  AND  LABOR,  BIRKAI    OP  STANDARDS, 

WASHINGTON,  February  2s.  1IU1. 
HON.  RICHARD  J.  WELCH,  State  Senator,  Sacramento,  California. 

DEAR  SIR:  Referring  to  your  letter  of  the  UMh  ultimo,  request  inur  a 
copy  of  the  report  of  the  investigation  made  by  this  Bureau  into  the 
weights  and  measures  conditions  in  certain  cities  in  your  State.  1  have 
the  honor  to  enclose  herewith  copies  of  the  reports  on  the  following 
named  cities:  Sacramento,  San  Francisco,  San  Jose,  Los  AHLT< -les.  Oak- 
land, Stockton,  and  Fresno. 

We  hope  that  these  reports  will  be  of  value  to  you  in  obtaining  ade- 
quate laws,  and  in  bringing  about  better  weights  and  measures  condi- 
tions throughout  your  State. 

We  regret  that  we  were  unable  to  get  these  reports  to  you  earlier: 
but  we  have  only  a  limited  force  engaged  on  this  work,  and  there  has 
l>ecn  a  large  amount  of  extra  work  durin<_r  the  past  few  weeks  in  con- 
nection with  the  sixth  annual  conference  of  the  sealers  of  weights  and 
measures  of  the  various  states. 

There  has  been  forwarded  to  you  under  separate  cover  a  '-<.py  of  the 
report  of  the  fifth  annual  conference. 

Very  respectfully. 

S.  W.   STRATTON.  Director. 


NATIONAL  INVESTIGATION  RELATING  TO 
WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES. 


REPORT  ON  AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  WEIGHTS  AND 
MEASURES  CONDITIONS  FOUND  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO, 
CALIFORNIA,  BY  THE  BUREAU  OF  STANDARDS,  IN 
JANUARY,  1911. 

The  city  of  San  Francisco,  California,  has  no  local  ordinance  on  the 
subject  of  weights  and  measures,  except  one  ordinance  in  relation  to 
the  sale  of  butter  in  "print"  form,  no  inspection  of  the  weights  and 
measures  in  commercial  use,  and  no  city  standards  by  means  of  which 
the  accuracy  of  those  in  use  might  be  determined.  In  the  absence  of 
state  laws  on  the  subject,  the  city  is,  therefore,  totally  unprotected  in 
this  important  matter. 

An  investigation  has  been  made  throughout  the  stores  of  the  city  in 
order  to  determine  the  accuracy  of  the  apparatus  in  use,  the  method  of 
sale  of  commodities,  and  the  amounts  delivered  to  the  consumer  by  the 
merchants  of  the  city.  Representative  stores  were  visited  in  every  prin- 
cipal retail  district,  in  order  that  the  results  might  be  as  nearly  general 
as  possible. 

The  results  show  that  the  existing  conditions  are  very  chaotic.  Faulty 
apparatus  is  being  very  commonly  used,  with  the  result  that  very  much 
short  weight  is  being  .delivered  and  enormous  sums  are  being  lost  by 
the  consumers  of  the  city ;  and  the  honest,  legitimate  merchant  is  being 
constantly  subjected  to  unfair  and  dishonest  competition,  and  is  occa- 
sionally giving  overweight  on  account  of  the  faulty  construction  of  the 
scales  in  use. 

The  condition  of  the  apparatus  in  use  which  was  tested  will  first  be 
detailed,  after  which  the  scale  of  special  commodities  and  other  matters 
of  interest  will  be  considered. 

The  scale  table  follows: 

SCAIYK    TABLE. 


o  Correct 

£  within  Incorrect. 

c         3  per  cent. 


Fast— Minus.     Slow— Plus. 


3 

i     i" 


1 

e 
t 

? 

Number.  . 

Per  cent  - 

co 

ft 

o» 

M 

Is 

i! 

1  "* 

17 

7 

41 

10 

59 

2;  +1 

—  2:  +1 

-  i* 

Computing  
Spring  

67 
51 

31 

8 

46 
16 

36 
43 

54 
84 

—  13:  +5 
—  15;  +4 

—  5 
—   6 

—  i;  +1 
—  5;  +1 

—    4t 

Totals  

135 

46 

34.1 

89 

65.9 

—  30 

—  13 

—  6 

-10 

+  10 

+    1 

J 

+    ' 

*  This  scale  was  short  by  62  per  cent. 

t  Three  of  these  scales  were  —  16  per  cent,  —  14  per  cent,  and  —  25  per  cent. 

1  These  scales  ranged  from  12  per  cent  to  31  per  cent  short. 

§  This  scale  was  35  per  cent  over. 

"Otherwise  faulty"  scales  are  those  showing  errors  of  plus-minus  |  oz.  or  more  at  any  point 
from  8  oz.  to  3  Ibs.,  inclusive:  plus-minus  1  oz.  from  3  Ibs.  to  10  Ibs.,  inclusive:  plus-minus 
I  ozs.  above  10  Ibs.:  or  scales  which,  on  account  of  faulty  construction  or  their  condition  are 
liable  to  show  these  errors. 


251778 


4 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  tabulation  that  only  34  per  cent  of  the 
scales  in  use  are  correct,  the  remaining  66  per  cent  delivering  inaccurate 
amounts  of  commodity.  As  usual,  the  percentage  of  the  apparatus 
giving  overweight  is  small  and  the  percentage  of  short  weight  corre- 
spondingly high.  Here  five  scales  out  of  every  six  listed  in  the  per- 
centage column  are  delivering  less  than  the  amount  represented,  and  in 
addition,  nearly  all  of  the  scales  giving  overweight  have  an  error  of  less 
than  6  per  cent.  Very  many  of  the  scales  are  very  seriously  inaccurate, 
as  is  shown  by  the  percentage  columns.  Thus,  15  per  cent  of  those 
listed  in  these  columns  have  a  greater  error  than  12  per  cent,  the  dis- 
crepancies varying  from  12.5  to  62  per  cent.  It  may  be  said  that  every 
scale  in  this  column  is  delivering  less  than  the  quantity  represented.  It 
will  be  seen  that  one  scale  is  listed  as  ''slow,"  but  the  proprietor  de- 
clared in  this  case  that  "an  overweight  error  of  about  a  half  pound  was 
allowed  for."  The  error  being  somewhat  less  than  this,  short  weight 
was  the  result.  Twenty-six  per  cent  of  the  scales  specifically  listed  have 
an  error  of  more  than  9  per  cent ;  while  45  per  cent  are  more  than  6  per 
cent  incorrect. 

Some  of  these  errors  are  probably  due  to  carelessness  and  ignorance, 
and  others  to  faulty  construction  of  apparatus.  The  great  prepon- 
derance of  the  "fast"  scales,  as  compared  with  those  giving  overweight, 
however,  we  believe,  strongly  indicate  fraudulent  alteration;  and  this 
is  corroborated  by  evidence  gleaned  from  the  specific  record  cards.  It 
is  here  shown  that  a  number  of  stores  have  practically  all  the  scales  in 
use  set  so  that  shdrt  weight  is  delivered.  Specific  instances  are :  a  store 
in  which  the  only  scale  in  use  delivers  shortages  of  from  12  to  18  per 
cent;  in  another  the  two  scales  were  short  from  4.5  to  18  per  cent;  in 
another  both  scales  had  metal,  etc.,  attached  to  the  pan  so  that  shortages 
of  from  3  to  8  per  cent  resulted ;  in  still  another  each  of  the  three  scales 
delivered  from  3  to  25  per  cent  less  than  the  indicated  amounts;  again, 
each  of  the  three  scales  in  use  had  errors  of  —  9,  — 12,  and  —  24  per 
cent;  and  in  still  another  store  two  expensive  scales  were  set  14  per 
cent  and  16  per  cent  short.  And  such  a  list  could  be  greatly  prolonged. 

We  believe  that  such  records  sufficiently  indicate  fraud.  Attempts  to 
alter  scales  or  even  to  secrete  them  and  thus  prevent  their  inspection 
furnished  positive  evidence  to  the  same  effect. 

We  believe  that  the  above  conditions  will  at  once  show  the  extent  of 
the  short  weight  delivered  and  the  consequent  imperative  need  of  an 
inspection  department  working  under  laws  that  grant  to  the  officials 
sufficient  powers  to  make  the  above  conditions  impossible.  And  we  also 
believe  that,  until  such  laws  are  enacted  and  an  inspection  service  estab- 
lished, short  weight  will  continue  to  be  the  rule,  as  it  has  been  in  the 
past. 

As  is  usual  in  this  section,  little  tampering  with  the  weights  in  use  on 
beam  scales  was  discovered.  The  number  of  weights  tested  is  compara- 
tively small  on  account  of  the  very  large  number  of  weightless  automatic 
weighing  devices  in  use,  but  the  weights  examined  have  a  much  higher 
percentage  of  accuracy  than  the  scales.  The  inaccuracies  discovered 
were,  we  believe,  largely  the  result  of  ordinary  wear  and  tear  not  coun- 
teracted by  frequent  inspection  and  correction. 


—  5  — 

No  dry  measures  were  being  used  in  the  sale  of  dry  commodities,  the 
method  usually  resorted  to  being  to  sell  such  commodities  by  weight. 
The  amounts  of  such  commodities  delivered  may  be  determined  by  the 
condition  of  the  scales  in  use  previously  shown.  The  rule  is  very  com- 
monly neglected  in  the  sate  of  cranberries,  however,  the  liquid  measure 
being  illegally  used  in  this  case.  Since  this  measure  is  15  per  cent  short 
of  the  dry  standard  by  which  such  a  commodity  should  be  sold  when 
any  measure  is  used,  shortages  of  about  this  amount  result  on  all  sales 
so  made.  At  other  times  dry  vegetables  and  sometimes  groceries  as  well 
were  sold  by  guesswork  and  in  every  such  case  a  discrepancy  is  practi- 
cally sure  to  result.  The  disuse  of  the  dry  measure  seems  to  have 
resulted  to  some  extent  in  the  elimination  of  the  liquid  measure  also.  In 
cases  where  these  were  not  used,  the  merchant  filled  the  container 
brought  by  the  customer  and  charged  for  the  amount  that  this  container 
is  supposed  to  hold.  It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  bottles,  cans,  etc.,  are 
usually  short  of  their  supposed  capacity,  often  as  much  as  20  per  cent 
and  sometimes  even  more.  When  no  measures  were  used,  however,  it  did 
not  appear  that  the  merchant  either  reduced  the  charge  or  even  repre- 
sented to  the  consumer  that  the  full  amount  could  not  be  delievered. 
Thus  large  shortages  on  these  amounts  necessarily  resulted,  and  many  of 
the  evils  of  "original  package  goods"  sale  become  customary  in  the 
delivery  of  bulk  goods  also. 

The  elimination  of  the  dry  measure  is  commendable  when  the  more 
satisfactory  method  of  weighing  these  commodities  takes  its  place.  But 
the  elimination  of  the  liquid  measure  when  the  basis  of  sale  becomes 
largely  guesswork  can  not  be  so  regarded,  and  liquid  commodities  should 
certainly  be  sold  by  some  definite  standard  of  measurement. 

The  weight  of  the  prints  or  ' '  squares ' '  of  butter  sold  as  half  pounds, 
pounds  and  two  pounds  becomes  here  a  matter  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance on  account  of  the  very  large  quantity  consumed  in  a  city  of  this 
size,  the  expensive  nature  of  the  commodity,  and  the  fact  that  prac- 
tically all  of  the  butter  retailed  to  the  consumer  of  the  city  is  in  this 
form. 

In  the  investigation  of  this  matter  302  "squares"  of  about  twenty- 
five  different  brands  were  weighed.  The  data  thus  obtained  is  presented 
in  the  following  table : 


—  6  — 


BUTTER    TAI5I.K. 


Number. 

Errors- 

Average. 

Total. 

Pull 

weight. 

Light 
weight. 

Ounces. 

Per  cent. 

Isleton   Creamery 

1-lb 

29 

29 

14  86 

••  1  14 

-•71 

Modesto   

Mb 

5 

1 

4 

15  73 

27 

•      1  7 

Alphine  

Mb 

4 

1 

15  98 

—     '02 

Sonoma  Creamery         

L-lb 

7 

7 

14  98 

1  0° 

6  4 

Bodego 

1-lb 

9 

9 

15  39 

•  -      61 

-••  3  8 

Red  Clover 

1-lb 

10 

"_  ~ 

9 

15  39 

fil 

Gal  Falfa  .. 

-1h 

7 

7 

15  4 

60 

3  7 

Lily    

Mb 

g 

8 

15  26 

74 

--46 

Golden   Eagle   __    _- 

L-lb. 

4 

3 

1 

15  85 

—      15 

•  •  1 

Blue  RIbbou 

Mb 

1 

1 

15  75 

25 

1  8 

Totals 

84 

8 

76 

Per  cent  of  prints  short--    - 

90 

Average  weight  of  prints.  .  ._ 

15.12 

Average  shortage  of  prints 

88 

5  5 

Alphine   ._    . 

1] 

-Ib 

4 

22  58 

1  42 

6 

Sherritas  

1 

Hb 

a 

23  32 

—     *68 

2  8 

Woodlawn* 

lj 

-Ib 

8 

23  79 

9 

Modesto  

1] 

-Ib 

5 

23  34 

66 

9  8 

California  Rose  — 

1] 

-Ib 

4 

23  96 

04 

Golden  Glow 

1j 

-Ib 

2 

23  91 

09 

Lorsbach  &  Co  

1 

-Ib. 

2 

23  63 

—      37 

1  5 

Jersey 

lj 

-Ib 

2 

9 

23  70 

30 

•  -  1  3 

Bodego     

lj 

-Ib. 

7 

2 

5 

23  67 

—      83 

1  4 

Totals 

40 

15 

25 

Per  cent  of  prints  short  

62.5 

Average  weight  of  prints  

23.53 

Average  shortage  of  prints  

—      47 

—  2 

Isleton  Creamery 

! 

Mb 

28 

28 

29.72 

2  28 

Modesto 

j 

Mb 

22 

22 

31  19 

81 

2  5 

Alphine      ... 

' 

Mb 

13 

1 

12 

31  0° 

98 

3  1 

Woodlawn     

' 

Mb 

10 

10 

30.63 

1  37 

Bohemian 

' 

Mb 

g 

1 

31  0 

-  ••  1 

3  1 

Sherritas       -      

] 

Mb. 

9 

30  87 

1  13 

3  5 

Jersey 

5 

Mb 

10 

4 

30  84 

•  -      5 

lily      —    . 

' 

Mb 

9 

3 

•-,'0  (f> 

Pansy 

5 

Mb 

3 

29  65 

-  •  2  35 

7  2 

Turlock 

• 

Mb 

~ 

---____-_ 

29  87 

Red  Clover 

j 

-Ib 

6 

29  70 

2  3 

7  2 

Fallen 

' 

Mb 

7 

5 

31  87 

13 

Maoseati  &  liattertcssa's 

| 

-Ib 

6 

30  37 

1  63 

5  1 

California  Rose  __ 

« 

-Ib 

5 

3 

31  97 

'03 

Golden  Glow 

5 

-Ib 

4 

31  19 

81 

-  t  5 

Sonoma      

• 

Mb 

4 

_  __     _  _ 

30*6 

1*40 

Star 

« 

Mb 

3 

30  16 

-  -  2  84 

8  9 

Cloverbrook 

| 

-Ib 

3 

---"  

30  65 

-•-  4  2 

Golden  Garland 

e 

-Ib 

4 

31  12 

88 

2  8 

Evergreen    —  _  

j 

-Ih 

2 

1 

31  59 

—      41 

—  15 

Totals  

164 

IS 

146 

Per  cent  of  prints  short  

89 

Average  weight  of  prints  

30.72 

Average  shortage  of  prints  

1  28 

—  4 

Sonomat 

] 

I-lb 

8 

8 

6  3 

1  7 

21  2 

Sonomat     -  

j 

-Ib 

6 

6 

3  3 

7 

17  5 

•Marked  15  Ibs.  full  wt. 

tit  was  stated  by  the  proprietor  of  store  that  these  weighed  about 
therefore,  so  listed. 


and  \  Ibs.     They  are, 


The  2-pound,  1-pound  and  H-pound  squares  are  of  relative  impor- 
tance to  the  trade  in  the  order  mentioned.  Therefore  the  total  number 
of  each  weighed  are  in  the  same  ratio.  An  endeavor  has  been  made  to 
gain  as  accurate  an  average  as  is  possible.  It  will  be  noted  that  a 
greater  number  of  certain  brands  have  been  weighed.  This  has  been 


—  7  — 

done  because  the  brands  in  question  were  more  commonly  encountered. 
The  results  are,  we  believe,  a  very  fair  average  of  the  weight  of  butter 
delivered  to  the  people  of  the  city,  as  a  whole. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  general  average  weight  of  the  "pound" 
prints  is  15.12  ounces,  the  shortage  being  .88  ounce,  or  5.5  per  cent  per 
print ;  the  2-pound  prints  average  30.72  ounces,  the  shortage  being  1.28 
ounces,  or  4  per  cent  per  print;  the  1^-pound  prints  average  23.53 
ounces,  the  shortage  in  this  case  being  .47  ounce,  or  2  per  cent  per  print. 
In  one  store  the  proprietor  was  "printing"  his  own  butter  in  small 
bricks  and  declared  that  these  weighed  about  "half-pounds"  and 
"quarter-pounds."  On  account  of  this  statement  and  since  the  price 
charged  seemed  to  be  based  on  this  assumption  they  have  been  so  tabu- 
lated. The  "half-pounds"  average  in  weight  6.3  ounces,  a  shortage  of 
1.7  ounces,  or  21  per  cent;  and  the  "quarter-pounds"  average  3.3 
ounces,  a  shortage  of  .7  ounce,  or  17.5  per  cent  per  print.  Of  the  total 
of  302  squares  weighed,  41  were  full  weight,  while  the  remaining  261 
were  short.  Thus,  only  13  per  cent  of  the  total  deliveries  of  this  com- 
modity contain  the  represented  amount. 

It  is  not  noted  that  the  price  of  this  commodity  is  lower  on  account  of 
the  shortage,  and  butter  moreover  which  is  practically  full  weight  seems 
to  be  priced  the  same  as  that  which  is  short.  Thus,  the  full  shortage  is 
an  alxsolute  financial  loss  to  the  consumers  of  the  city. 

An  analysis  of  the  various  brands  shows  that  four  of  the  ten  brands 
of  the  "one-pound"  size  are  within  2  per  cent  of  the  correct  weight, 
while  two  brands  are  respectively  6.4  per  cent  and  7.1  per  cent  light. 
Four  of  the  nine  brands  of  the  ' '  1^-pound ' '  size  are  within  2  per  cent, 
while  one  brand  is  6  per  cent  light.  And  three  of  the  twenty  brands  of 
the  "2-pound"  size  are  within  2  per  cent,  while  three  are  more  than 
7  per  cent  light.  Thus  not  only  does  the  greater  part  of  the  loss  fall 
upon  the  purchasers  of  certain  brands,  but  full-weight  brands  must 
compete  with  brands  which  are  very  short  in  weight  and  grave  injustice 
is  being  done  the  honest  manufacturer  of  the  former  brands  on  this 
account.  And  thus  a  premium  is  put  upon  dishonesty  rather  than  upon 
honesty  in  this  case. 

Some  of  the  merchants  endeavor  to  keep  within  the  law  by  selling 
butter  by  the  ' '  print, ' '  But  it  has  been  repeatedly  shown  in  the  past 
that  this  can  not  be  successfully  done  since  butter  has  always  been 
retailed  by  the  pound.  The  great  majority  of  the  merchants  make  no 
pretense  of  selling  in  any  other  way. 

Only  one  manufacturer  was  found  billing  a  smaller  weight  than  is 
understood,  this  firm  billing  "30-ounce  prints."  The  result  to  the  con- 
sumer is  the  same,  however,  since  these  will  be  tacitly  retailed  as 
' '  2-pounds. ' '  Another  manufacturer,  using  a  very  heavy  carton,  billed 
' '  gr.  wt. ' '  but  this  averages  short  even  gross,  and  these  also  reached  the 
consumer  as  pounds  and  two-pounds.  The  merchant  handling  this  but- 
ter always  stipulated  "full  weight"  in  ordering  and  had  never  seen  the 
words  * '  gr.  wt. ' '  on  the  bill.  He  called  up  the  company  on  the  telephone 
while  the  Bureau  of  Standards'  inspector  was  in  the  store  and  was  told 
by  the  representative  of  the  company  that  all  their  butter  was  "full 
weight."  And  finally  the  great  majority  of  the  manufacturers  bill 
their  product  by  the  pound.  One  brand  7.1  per  cent  short  on  both  the 
pound  and  two  pound  sizes  is  always  billed  in  this  way. 


—  8  — 

The  loss  to  the  consumers  of  the  city  is  of  course  enormous.  The 
Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  show  that  the  normal  adult  of  the  working 
man's  family  uses  about  28  pounds  of  butter  a  year.  Basing  a  total  con- 
sumption upon  400,000  people,  the  total  amounts  to  11,200,000  pounds 
a  year.  The  average  shortage  per  pound  amounts  to  .68  ounces  or 
475,000  pounds  per  year.  At  an  average  price  of  35  cents  per  pound, 
which  is  much  less  than  the  present  price,  the  loss  on  this  one  commodity 
alone  to  the  people  of  San  Francisco  is  more  than  $160,000  per  year. 

The  above  conditions  exist  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  on  November  21, 
1910,  the  board  of  supervisors  passed  an  ordinance  specifically  regu- 
lating trade  in  this  commodity.  A  copy  of  this  ordinance  is  attached. 
It  will  be  seen  that  "the  selling  of  butter  in  prints  or  packages,  or 
otherwise,  other  than  by  or  in  terms  of  pounds  and  ounces,  avoirdupois, 
or  for  a  greater  weight  than  the  true  net  weight  thereof"  is  made  guilty 
of  a  crime  with  a  specified  fine.  Although  this  ordinance  has  been  in 
force  for  about  two  months,  the  results  of  the  inspection  detailed  above 
show  that  every  feature  is  being  continually  violated  both  by  the  manu- 
facturer or  commission  merchant  and  the  retailer.  This  serves  to  illus- 
trate that  an  ordinance  of  this  kind  is  useless  unless  some  department  or 
official  is  delegated  to  enforce  the  same,  and  proves,  we  believe,  the 
necessity  for  regular  inspection  before  the  existing  conditions  can  be 
alleviated. 

The  use  of  the  majority  of  the  faulty  scales  could  not  be  checked  by 
packages  weighed  upon  them  since  the  majority  of  merchants  weigh 
packages  only  when  they  are  ordered.  In  one  store,  however,  a  large 
number  of  orders  about  to  be  delivered  were  intercepted  and  checked. 

Twenty-four  individual  packages  were  weighed  up  and  twenty-one 
found  to  be  short  by  amounts  varying  from  .8  per  cent  to  19  per  cent, 
the  average  shortage  on  every  package,  both  heavy  and  light  packages 
being  included,  was  5.8  per  cent.  In  each  of  the  three  cases  in  which 
packages  were  overweight,  the  commodity  was  a  cheap  one,  and  careful 
weighing  had  not  been  done.  Included  in  the  short  packages  were  tea, 
coffee,  spices,  cooked  ham,  etc.,  and  other  high-priced  commodities.  A 
test  of  the  scales  in  this  store  showed  the  following :  One  scale  —  6  per 
cent  to  — 12  per  cent;  one  O.  K. ;  one  — 4.5  per  cent,  and  one  "other- 
wise faulty."  It  will  be  seen  that  only  one  scale  equals  the  average 
error  in  deficiency.  The  proprietor  admitted  that  a  number  of  the  short 
packages  were  weighed  on  the  correct  scale  and  this  indicates  that  short 
weight  in  the  city  is  not  even  limited  to  the  errors  of  the  scales,  but 
that  short  packages  are  delivered  from  some  scales  which  are  in  them- 
selves correct.  Some  of  the  short  packages,  however,  had  been  weighed 
on  the  scale  most  seriously  incorrect,  which  was  the  most  commonly 
used. 

It  has  been  shown  by  quotation  from  specific  record  cards  that  the 
scales  in  many  stores  are  much  more  seriously  incorrect  than  those  in 
use  here ;  and  the  errors  on  packages  delivered  from  these  scales  may  be 
best  imagined  by  the  data  here  obtained.  All  the  packages  weighed  in 
this  store,  as  well  as  those  weighed  elsewhere,  are  tabulated  in  the  fol- 
lowing table. 

One  other  case  is  worthy  of  special  note.  One  of  the  larger  stores  of 
the  city  puts  up  rice  in  25-cent  cartons.  These  cartons  are  labeled  ' '  2^ 
Ibs."  and  the  contents  are  sold  for  that  amount.  The  proprietor  ad- 


mitted  that  these  cartons  were  filled  and  sold  without  weighing.  Ten 
of  these,  ready  for  delivery,  were  weighed.  Every  one  was  light  by  an 
amount  varying  from  — 3  per  cent,  the  heaviest,  to  — 10.5  per  cent, 
the  lightest  carton.  A  test  indicated  that  these  cartons  when  completely 
filled  and  settled  would  still  fall  short  of  holding  the  amount  stamped 
upon  them.  Yet  the  proprietor  declares  that  they  were  made  in  accord- 
ance with  the  specifications  of  a  large  local  box-making  factory,  which 
makes  similar  cartons  for  a  number  of  local  firms.  The  average  short- 
age of  all  those  weighed  is  —  7.35  per  cent.  In  this  store  all  the  scales 
were  listed  as  correct.  This  not  only  proves  that  the  full  extent  of  the 
short  weight  delivered  can  not  be  determined  by  the  condition  of  the 
scales  alone ;  but  that  when  guesswork  enters  into  business  large  frauds 
are  almost  bound  to  result. 
The  package  table  follows : 


PACKAGE   TABLE. 


Commodity. 

Weight. 

Number. 

Heaviest. 

Lightest. 

Average. 

Errors  —  average. 

Pounds  

| 

i 

Total  weight.. 

g 

3 
& 

w" 

Sf 

Lightweight-. 

c? 

Ounces  

I 

o 

(3 

f 

1 

| 

O 

C 

O 

C 

Per  cent  

Sugar 

4 

7 
1 
1 

__-_ 

7 

3 

15.44 

3 

12.81 

3 

14.39 
14.12 
14. 
14.06 
12.69 
1 
22.44 
15.06 
15.31 
15.12 
15.62 
4.38 
12 
10.62 
11.38 
5.25 
1.75 
13.25 

—  1.61 
+  1.12 
—  2. 
—     .94 
—  3.31 
+  1. 
—  1  56 

2.5 
+  7. 
—12.2 
—  3. 
—10.3 
+  1.5 
—  6.5 
—  5.9 
4.3 

Nuts      —       

1 

Coffee 

1 

1 

B.  sugar      __    

4 

1 

1 

3 

1 
4 

Rice    

9 

1 

1 

I 

Beans 

4 

1 

1 
1 

1 

Macaroni 

1 
1 

8 

I 

Cut  sugar  . 

1 

—     .94 

—     .69 
—     .88 
—     .38 
—  2.02 
—  4. 
—     .78 
4  62 

Tea 

1 

1 

1 

Tea  _    ... 

1 

1 

1 

—  5.5 

Q 

—3i.  'e 

—  6.2 

—  6.8 
—  7.2 
—19. 

+  2.7 
—17. 

Rice 

s 

1 

1 

2 

Pepper    

6.4 

1 

1 

Beans 

4 

1 

1 

3 

Ham       —    — 

11  4 

1 

1 

Sugar 

4 

1 

1 

3 

Pepper    

6.5 

1 

1 

—  1.25 
+  1.75 
—  2.75 

Prunes    _. 

4 

1 
1 

1 

4 

Crackers 

1 

1 

Totals  

24 

3 

21 

Per  cent  of  packages  short,  87. 

Average  shortage  of  packages,  5.8  per  cent. 

When  the  above  chaotic  conditions  are  considered,  and  when  it  is 
further  remembered  that  the  greatest  frauds  with  which  the  sealers  of 
Portland  and  Spokane  have  to  contend,  is  the  delivery  of  short  coal  and 
wood  loads,  the  shortages  which  must  exist  in  these  deliveries  here  must, 
we  believe,  be  apparent  to  all.  And  the  consumers  are  undoubtedly 
being  swindled  out  of  very  large  sums  in  this  way,  also.  This  matter, 
however,  could  not  be  investigated. 

The  conditions  then  as  revealed  by  this  inspection  are  most  chaotic 
and  deplorable,  and  the  loss  to  the  consumer  and  to  the  honest  mer- 
chant is  an  enormous  one.  We  believe  that  there  is,  without  question, 
an.  imperative  necessity  for  a  stringent  law  regulating  weights  and 
measures  and  establishing  local  inspection  services.  It  is  apparent, 
after  a  careful  study  of  the  subject,  that  a  law  of  the  greatest  efficiency 
can  not  be  legally  passed  before  a  constitutional  amendment  is  adopted. 


—  10  — 

There  is  at  the  present  time  before  the  Legislature  a  law  whii-h,  we 
believe,  is  the  best  which  can  be  enacted  with  the  present  constitutional 
limitations.  We  strongly  urge  the  passage  of  this  law  in  order  that 
some  measure  of  relief  may  be  immediately  obtained.  And  we  also 
believe  that  the  constitutional  amendment,  also  introduced,  should  be 
favorably  considered,  so  that  at  a  coming  session  the  law  may  lie  so 
amended  that  the  greatest  efficiency  of  enforcement  may  be  obtained. 

ORDINANCE    NO.    1383. 
Be  it  ordained  by  the  people  of  the  city  and  count}/  of  San   Fnnn-ixeo  as  follows: 

SECTION  1.     It  shall  bo  unlawful  for  any  person,  firm  or  corporation  to  sell,  or 
offer  for  sale,  or  to  cause  or  permit  to  be  sold,  or  offered  for  sale,   any   butter   in 
prints  or  packages,  or  otherwise,  other  than  by,  or  in  terms  of  pounds  and  or 
avoirdupois,  or  for  a  greater  weight  than  the  true  net  weight  thereof. 

SEC.  2.  Any  person,  firm  or  corporation  who  shall  violate  any  of  the  provisions 
of  this  ordinance  shall  be  punished  by  fine  of  not  less  than  ten  dollars  nor  more 
than  one  hundred  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  for  a  period  of  not 
less  than  five  days,  nor  more  than  fifty  days,  or  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

SEC.  3.     This  ordinance  shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  immediately. 

In  Board  of  Supervisors,  San  Francisco,  November  21,  1910. 


REPORT  ON  AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  WEIGHTS  AND 
MEASURES  CONDITIONS  FOUND  IN  FRESNO,  CALIFOR- 
NIA, BY  THE  BUREAU  OF  STANDARDS,  IN  FEBRUARY, 
1911. 

The  city  of  Fresno,  California,  in  common  witli  all  the  cities  of  the 
states  thus  far  inspected,  has  no  inspection  of  the  weights  and  measures 
in  commercial  use,  no  local  standards  of  weight  or  measure,  and  no 
ordinances  on  the  subject.  These  things,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
lack  of  any  efficient  State  laws,  leaves  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  wholly 
unprotected  in  this  important  matter. 

An  inspection  of  representative  stores  throughout  the  city  reveals 
existing  conditions  which  most  nearly  show  the  need  of  some  regulation 
in  this  matter.  In  the  following  report,  the  condition  of  the  apparatus 
in  use  will  first  be  presented,  after  which  other  matters  of  importance 
will  be  considered.  The  scale  table  follows : 

SCALE   TABLE. 


Type. 

Total  number  tested  . 

.     •; 
Correct 
within 
3  per  cent. 

Incorrect. 

Fast     Minus      Slow  —  Plus. 

Otherwise  faulty  

1 

i 

I 

f 

Per  cent  . 

M 

ft 

$ 

5 

0 

Beam                          •> 

2 
17 
4 

100 
53.1 
80 

+  1 

=r+5 

+  1 
—  4 

—  1 

Computing  ... 
Spring    

Totals 

32 
5 

15 
1 

46.9. 
20 

—  1 

—  1  (17%) 

I 

39 

16 

41 

23 

59 

-6;  -1-6 

—  5;  -fl 

—  1 

—  1 

1 

Per  cent  columns,  —  65  per  cent;  -f  35  per  cent. 

Large  meat  scale  —  1  to  —  2  —  2  (variation  in  error  caused  by  position). 

"Otherwise  faulty"  scales  are  those  showing  errors  of  plus-minus  J  oz.  or  more  at  any  point 
from  8  oz.  to  3  IDS.,  inclusive;  plus-minus  1  oz.  from  3  IDS.  to  10  Ibs.,  inclusive;  plus-minus 
2  ozs.  above  10  Ibs.;  or  scales  which,  on  account  of  faulty  construction  or  their  condition,  are 
liable  to  show  these  errors. 


li- 


lt will  be  seen  from  the  above  table  that  but  41  per  cent  of  the  scales 
found  in  use  are  correct,  the  remaining  59  per  cent  showing  discrep- 
ancies greater  than  the  tolerances  allowed  in  these  tabulations.  It  may 
be  remarked  that  the  errors  are  not  quite  as  large  as  in  some  of  the 
larger  cities  heretofore  inspected  and  that  a  somewhat  smaller  per- 
centage is  apparently  due  to  fraud.  The  widespread  prevalence  of  the 
faulty  apparatus  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  fact  that  the  average 
error  on  the  incorrect  scales  is  4.8  per  cent,  making  the  average  error  on 
every  scale  found  in  use  and  inspected  2.8  per  cent,  is  entirely  sufficient 
to  show  the  imperative  need  of  systematizing  business  by  standardizing 
the  apparatus  in  use.  The  additional  fact  that  in  some  stores  every 
amount  done  up  must  necessarily  be  short  on  account  of  the  condition  of 
the  apparatus  in  use,  only  serves  to  strengthen  the  above  statement. 

The  almost  universal  method  heretofore  found  throughout  the  State 
of  selling  dry  commodities  by  weight  is  very  widely  used  here,  also,  and 
the  errors  to  be  expected  on  this  class  of  commodities  may  be  thus  deter- 
mined by  reference  to  the  scale  table  presented  above.  As  usual,  an 
exception  is  made  in  the  case  of  cranberries  which  are  being  sold  in  the 
great  majority  of  stores  by  the  illegal  liquid  measure,  the  usual  short- 
ages of  about  15  per  cent  necessarily  resulting. 

The  print  butter  on  sale  here  has  a  much  lesser  error  than  in  preced- 
ing cities  of  the  State  heretofore  reported  upon.  The  data  collected  on 
the  sale  of  this  commodity  is  summarized  in  the  following  tables  in  the 
usual  manner. 

BUTTER   TABLE. 


Brand. 

1* 

Number. 

Average, 
ounces. 

Errors  —  Average. 

Total. 

Full 
weight. 

Light 
weight. 

Ounces. 

Per  cent. 

Danish 

1-lb. 
1-lb. 
1-lb. 

,7 

7 

2 

1 

4 
2 

16 
3 

15.74 
16.35 
16.06 

.26 

—  1.6 

Gold  Nugget  

+     .35 

+     .06 

+  2.2 
+     .4 

73 

Miscellaneous 

Totals 

26 

7 

19 

Per  cent  of  prints  short 

Average  weight  of  prints 

15  9 

Average  shortage  of  prints 

4, 

—     .55 
—     .95 
—  1.02 
1  33 

.6 
1.7 

Danish 

2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 

15 
3 

2 

2 
1 

1 

14 
3 
2 
2 
1 

31.45 
31.05 
30.98 
30.67 
32.0 

Primrose    _  --       

—  3.0 
—  3.2 
4  2 

Gold  Nugget 

Golden  Glow 

Ranch 

Total      

95.6 

23 

1 

22 

Per  cent  of  prints  short 

Average  weight  of  prints 

31  28 

Average  shortage  of  prints 

.72 

—  o  25 

Per  cent  of  all  prints  short.  . 
Average  shortage  of  all  prints 

84 
1.65 

::~  ::  :  :: 

I 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  but  three  brands  in  the  1-pound 
size  are  found  on  sale  here  and  that  28  prints  of  these  have  been 
weighed.  These  brands  average  from  —  2.2  per  cent  to  —  1.6  per  cent, 
the  general  average  of  this  size  being  within  .6  per  cent  of  correctness. 
The  2-pound  size,  however,  shows  quite  serious  shortages,  these  brands 
averaging  from  — 1.7  per  cent  to  —  4.2  per  cent,  the  general  average 
on  this  size  being  —  2.25  per  cent  short. 


—  12  — 

Thus,  the  general  average  shortage  on  the  total  amount  sold  is  — 1.65 
per  cent. 

Although  this  shortage  means  a  large  loss  to  the  consumers  of  the 
city,  it  is  of  interest  to  investigate  why  the  butter  here  is  heavier  than 
that  sold  in  the  northern  cities  of  the  State.  It  appears  to  us  probable 
in  this  connection  that  the  requirements  for  full  weight  in  this  com- 
modity by  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  may  have  an  influence  in  increasing 
the  weight  of  the  product  sold  here.  For  it  is  probably  a  fact  that  a 
large  amount  of  butter  made  here  is  made  in  full-weight  sizes  to  be 
shipped  and  sold  in  that  city.  And  this,  we  consider,  would  naturally 
result  in  a  more  nearly  full-weight  product  here  also. 

A  somewhat  associated  reason  is  that  in  the  1-pound  size  but  two 
brands  are  found  extensively  sold  here;  and  one  of  these  brands  is 
stamped  '  *  1  pound ' ' ;  and  in  most  cases  is  practically  full  weight.  This 
may  have  had  effect  on  the  other  brand  also. 

In  the  case  of  the  2-pound  sizes  where  more  brands  are  found  on  sale 
the  weight  is  seen  to  fall  materially  short.  Basing  an  estimate  of  loss 
upon  a  population  of  30,000,  and  making  identical  assumptions  as  in 
San  Francisco,  and  other  cities,  the  loss  to  the  consumers  here  upon  the 
butter  purchased  in  the  course  of  a  year  is  somewhat  in  excess  of  $4,000. 

Very  few  packages  are  found  here  done  up  by  the  merchants  ready 
for  delivery,  yet  in  the  few  weighed,  errors  on  an  expensive  commodity, 
such  as  coffee,  sometimes  are  in  excess  of  7  per  cent. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  fraudulent  practices  here,  although 
less  flagrant  than  in  some  cities  heretofore  inspected,  and  not  unlike 
those  already  discovered  to  exist,  are  found ;  and  the  same  recommenda- 
tions, in  regard  to  state  legislation,  reiterated  in  former  reports  are 
advised  in  this  case. 


REPORT  ON  AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  WEIGHTS  AND 
MEASURES  CONDITIONS  FOUND  IN  SAN  JOSE,  CALI- 
FORNIA, BY  THE  BUREAU  OF  STANDARDS,  IN  JANUARY, 
1911. 

The  city  of  San  Jose,  California,  in  common  with  the  other  cities  of 
northern  California,  has  no  ordinances  on  the  subject  of  weights  and 
measures,  no  inspection  of  the  weights  and  measures  in  commercial  use 
and  no  standards  of  weights  and  measures  by  which  those  used  here 
might  be  compared  and  their  accuracy  or  inaccuracy  determined. 

In  common,  also,  with  those  cities  of  the  State  heretofore  inspected, 
the  resulting  conditions  are  most  chaotic,  short  weights  of  various  com- 
modities are  being  constantly  delivered  and  the  consumer  and  honest 
merchant  are  suffering  greatly  thereby — the  former  by  receiving  less 
than  the  quantity  represented  and  for  which  they  pay,  and  the  latter  on 
account  of  the  absence  of  a  fair  and  equitable  basis  of  competition. 

The  condition  of  the  apparatus  in  commercial  use,  as  revealed  by  an 
inspection  made  throughout  the  city,  will  first  be  considered,  after 
which  the  manner  of  sale  of  commodities,  amounts  delivered,  etc.,  will 
be  discussed. 

The  scale  table  follows. 


—  13  — 

SCALE   TABLE. 


1 

Correct 
within 

Incorrect. 

Fast  —  Minus.     Slow  —  Plus. 

0 

* 

| 

3  per  cent. 

1 

Type. 

I 

2 

M 

3 

* 

w 

« 

CO 

o 

\ 

8 

g 

* 

g 

0    0 

0   CO 

O    H^ 

t3    (ft 

"^ 

1 

0 

1 

D 

H 

N 

rs 

|? 

1 

Beam       

13 

6 

46 

7 

54 

_1 

4 

2 

Computing  __. 

20 

2 

10 

18 

90 

—  8;  +1 

0 

-i;  +1 

—  1 

4 

Spring 

12 

j 

33 

g 

67 

•   •    4 

2 

1 

Totals  

45 

12 

26.7 

33 

73.3 

—  12;  +1 

—  4 

—  3;  +1 

—  5 

7 

"Otherwise  faulty"  scales  are  those  showing  errors  of  plus-minus  i  oz.  or  more  at  any  point 
from  8  oz.  to  3  Ibs.,  inclusive;  plus-minus  1  oz.  from  3  Ibs.  to  10  Ibs.,  inclusive;  plus-minus 
2  ozs.  above  10  Ibs.;  or  scales  which,  on  account  of  faulty  construction  or  their  condition  are 
liable  to  show  these  errors. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  preceding  table  that  a  very  large  majority  of 
the  scales  in  use  here  are  incorrect,  73  per  cent  being  in  this  condition 
and  thus  only  27  per  cent  actually  delivered  the  represented  quantities 
of  commodity.  The  usual  predominance  of  scales  giving  short  weight 
in  distinction  from  those  which  deliver  more  than  the  indicated  amount 
of  commodity  is  very  marked,  92  per  cent  of  those  specifically  listed 
being  in  this  condition.  Many  of  the  errors  discovered  are  very  serious 
ones,  half  of  those  specifically  listed  having  a  greater  error  than  6  per 
cent,  while  nearly  20  per  cent  have  errors  ranging  from  12.5  per  cent 
to  19  per  cent. 

The  above  record,  we  believe,  conclusively  indicates  that  fraudulent 
practices  flourish  here ;  and  this  fact  is  further  proven  by  the  distribu- 
tion of  scale  errors  in  various  stores.  Thus,  in  one  place  of  business 
every  one  of  four  scales  in  use  delivered  from  3  per  cent  to  more  than 
6  per  cent  shortages  in  weight ;  in  another  every  scale  was  so  adjusted 
that  6  per  cent  shortages  resulted;  and  in  several  others  every  scale  in 
use  was  "fast."  Other  stores  in  competition  with  these  have  all  the 
scales  in  use  correct  and  are  delivering  full  weight  to  the  consumer. 

As  in  other  nearby  cities  recently  inspected  the  weights  in  use  are 
much  more  accurate  than  the  scales.  Some  of  these  are  inaccurate,  but 
in  general  it  appears  that  the  existing  errors  are  largely  original  faults 
of  adjustment  or  the  effect  of  long  usage  not  counteracted  by  occasional 
tests  and  repair. 

Also,  no  dry  measures  are  being  used,  nearly  all  dry  commodities 
being  sold  by  weight.  Where  this  general  rule  is  digressed  from  the 
liquid  measure  is  nearly  always  employed  and  the  usual  shortages  of 
about  15  per  cent  necessarily  follow. 

Few  liquid  measures  were  found  in  use,  the  general  tendency  being 
to  sell  liquid  commodities  either  in  original  packages  or  by  guesswork ; 
that  is,  by  the  filling  of  the  container  brought  by  the  customer  regard- 
less of  its  actual  content.  The  inaccuracies  resulting  from  this  method 
of  sale  have  frequently  been  pointed  out  in  the  past.  Of  those  measures 
tested,  also,  about  60  per  cent  were  inaccurate,  the  majority  being  short. 
The  greatest  error  on  any  measure  found  was  a  shortage  of  —  5.7  per 
cent. 

A  number  of  milk  bottles  were  also  tested.  A  large  number  of  these 
showed  variations,  50  per  cent  being  short.  These  shortages  were  often 
slight  and  in  many  cases  might  have  been  caused  by  the  inaccuracy  inci- 


dental  to  the  making  of  this  class  of  apparatus.  An  error  found  of 
about  —  22  per  cent,  however,  could  not  have  been  so  caused  and  this 
indicates,  we  believe,  that  very  considerable  errors  do  exist  on  the  bottles 
furnished  and  used  by  some  of  the  dairy  companies. 

The  sale  of  print  butter  was  most  chaotic,  and  nearly  all  of  the  prints 
were  more  or  less  short  in  weight.  In  tabulating  this  data  great  care 
has  been  exercised  in  an  endeavor  to  depict  actual  existing  conditions. 

Therefore,  when  it  appears  that  butter  is  sold  to  the  customer  or  to 
the  retailer  as  "Ibs.",  "2-lbs.",  etc.,  such  brands  have  been  tested  as 
these  sizes.  In  some  cases,  however,  retailers  claimed  that  bricks  were 
sold  as  If  pounds  and  in  these  cases  prints  were  so  listed,  although 
these  were  on  the  market  in  undoubted  competition  with  "2-lbs." 
bricks.  In  one  or  two  cases  the  retailer  claimed  that  bricks,  apparently 
2  pounds,  were  sold  as  "short-weight"  butter  or  by  the  "print"  and 
when  the  price  is  reduced,  and  the  statement  seems  to  be  borne  out  by 
the  conditions  of  sale,  the  butter  has  not  been  included  in  the  general 
averages,  since  it  is  desired  to  show  the  loss  to  the  customer.  The  la«-U 
of  fair  competition  and  possibility  of  fraud  when  such  "short- weight" 
butter  is  sold  unstamped  is,  we  believe,  apparent  from  the  above  state- 
ment. The  data  on  this  subject  has  been  listed  in  the  usual  manner  in 
the  following  table : 

BUTTER   TABLE. 


Brand. 

Number. 

Average 

Errors  —  Average. 

mm 

Total. 

Full 
weight 

Llffht 
weight. 

Ouneod. 

Per  cent 

Linda  Vista 

Mb. 
i-lb. 
i-lb. 
Mb. 
1-lb. 
l-lb. 
l-lb. 

6 
6 
2 

4 
2 
4 
3 

15.35 
14.4 
14.38 
15.49 
15.46 
15.77 
14.07 

—     .65         —  4.1 
—  1.6           —10. 
—  1.62         —10.1 
—     .51         —  3.2 
—      54         —  HA 

Kdgewood1   —  

Clear  Spring8 

Central  Creamery8  

-- 

1 

Panochet  Valley'  
Red  Clover  —  

—     .23 
—  1.93 

—  1.4 

—  12.1 

93 

Totals 

29 

2 

27 

Per  cent  of  prints  short 

15  06 

Average  shortage  of  prints 

.94 

—     .36 
—  2.3 

—  5.9 

-  1.1 
—  7.2 
—  4.3 
—  2.5 
—  3.7 
+     .4 
—  2.1 
—  1.0 

Linda  Vista            

2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 

6 
7 

4 
4 
2 
3 
7 
1 

1 

5 

7 

4 
4 
2 

31.64 
29.7 
80.62 

31.21 
30.82 
32.13 
31.32 
31.68 

Fdgewood0 

Clear  Springs*          -    -  

—  1.38 
—     .79 
1.18 

Central   Creamery*  

3 

+     .13 
—     .68 
—     .32 

Llagas  River5                          — 

7 

1 

Camita  

Totals 

34 

4 

30 

88 

30.99 

—  1.01 

—  1.65 
—     .79 
—  2.14 

3.2 

—13.8 
—19.7 
—  7.6 

92 
—  4.61 

Ranch7 

Jib. 
Ib. 
Ib. 

3 
6 
3 

3 
6 
3 

10.35 
3.21 
25.86 

Ranch7                            



Totals 

12 

12 

Per  cent  of  all  prints  short 

Average  shortage  of  all  prints 

' 

on  wrapper. 


^-Billed  as  "Ibs." 

2 Advertised  as  "Ibs." 

3Marked  "Ib."  on  wrapper. 

*  Advertised  as  "2-lbs." 

B.    and  N.   butter,   7  prints   averaged  28. < 
"short-weight"  butter. 

Miscellaneous  butter  (not  averaged  with  other).    Dealer  claims  to  weigh  each  brick  and  sell 
it  at  actual  weight — 4  prints  averaged  12.88  ounces;  2  prints  averaged  27.53  ounces. 


5Marked  "Two  Ibs.' 
'Billed  as  "2-lbs." 
7So  quoted. 

8 Claimed  to  be  so  sold, 
ounces    (not   averaged  with   other). 


Sold   as 


—  15  — 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  preceding  tabulation  that  93  per  cent  of  the 
'  *  pound ' '  prints  are  short  and  that  the  general  average  shortage  of  all 
bricks  of  this  size  is  —  5.9  per  cent  or  very  nearly  an  ounce  to  each 
pound.  Individual  brands  average  1.4  to  more  than  10  per  cent  short. 
In  a  similar  manner  all  ''two-pound"  prints  show  an  average  shortage 
of  3.2  per  cent,,  individual  brands  varying  from  +.4  per  cent  to  --  7.2 
per  cent.  Butter  quoted  as  "f  Ib."  and  "J  Ib."  show  shortages  of  13.8 
per  cent  and  19.7  per  cent  respectively ;  and  the  1J  pound  size  is  found 
to  be  7.6  per  cent  short.  The  "short  weight"  2-pound  prints  average 
only  28.36  ounces,  while  other  sixes  average  12.88  ounces  and  27.53 
ounces.  While  these  latter  brands  have  not  been  listed,  they  show 
shortages  of  from  14  per  cent  to  20  per  cent  when  compared  with  stand- 
ard sizes. 

The  general  average  shortage  of  all  butter  sold  by  weight  is  4.6  per 
cent.  Basing  a  loss  on  25,000  inhabitants  and  using  the  data  explained 
in  the  San  Francisco  report,  the  loss  on  this  product  alone  in  this  small 
community  is  in  excess  of  $11,000  per  year. 

All  of  the  above  results,  we  believe,  point  to  but  one  conclusion,  i.  e., 
that  without  inspection  service  losses  are  very  large  and  fraudulent  prac- 
tices are  very  common.  It  has  been  continually  shown  in  the  past  that 
only  a  rigid  inspection  service  will  serve  to  eliminate  such  losses  to  the 
consuming  public  and  put  business  upon  a  fair  and  honest  basis  of  com- 
petition; and  in  view  of  these  facts  we  again  urge  the  passage  of  the 
constitutional  amendment  and  legislation  now  pending  as  imperatively 
necessary  on  account  of  existing  conditions  found  here  and  in  the  for- 
mer cities  inspected  in  this  State. 


REPORT  ON  AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  WEIGHTS  AND 
MEASURES  CONDITIONS  FOUND  IN  OAKLAND,  CALIFOR- 
NIA, BY  THE  BUREAU  OF  STANDARDS,  IN  JANUARY, 
1911, 

The  city  of  Oakland,  California,  has  no  local  ordinances  on  the  sub- 
ject of  weights  and  measures,  no  city  inspection  service  and  no  city 
standards  of  weights  and  measures  with  which  those  in  commercial  use 
might  be  compared.  In  the  absence  of  State  laws  also,  the  people  of  the 
city  are  totally  unprotected  in  this  important  matter.  An  inspection 
made  throughout  the  stores  and  market  places  of  the  city  shows  that 
inspection  and  competent  laws  are  very  greatly,  needed  here,  and  that 
in  their  absence  conditions  are  such  that  the  people  are  losing  an  enor- 
mous sum  of  money  each  year  on  account  of  shortages  in  the  amounts 
of  commodity  delivered  to  them. 

The  condition  of  the  apparatus  in  use,  the  weights  of  packages  done 
up  ready  for  delivery  to  the  consumer,  and  the  manner  of  sale  and 
weight  of  special  commodities  all  tend  to  prove  the  above  statement. 
These  conditions  are  detailed  on  the  following  pages,  the  condition  of 
the  apparatus  in  use  being  first  considered.  The  scale  table  follows. 


—  16  — 


SCALE   TABLE. 


si 

Correct 

Incorrect. 

Fast—  Minus.     Slow—  Plus. 

I 

Type. 

in 

1 

Z 

1 

I 

w 

to 

to 

| 

5 

1 

P 

I 

f 

I 

h 

.  I 

fl 

I* 

£ 

Beam  

6 

4 

66.7 

2 

33.3 

_  1 

7 

Computing  ... 

56 

22 

39 

34 

61 

—  14 

—    9+1 

—  3 

—  2 

I 

Spring  

83 

6 

18 

27 

82 

—  8+2 

—   2+2 

—  2 

—  5 

5 

+  3 

Totals  

95 

32 

33.7 

63 

66.3 

—  23-fZ 

—  11 

—  5 

—  7 

12 

"Otherwise  faulty"  scales  are  those  showing  errors  of  plus-minus  $  oz.  or  more  at  any  point 
from  8  oz.  to  3  IDS.,  Inclusive;  plus-minus  1  oz.  from  3  IDS.  to  10  IDS.,  Inclusive;  plus-minuc 
2  ozs.  above  10  IDS.;  or  scales  which,  on  account  of  faulty  construction  or  their  condition,  are 
liable  to  show  these  errors. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  table  that  but  34  per  cent  of  all  the 
scales  inspected  were  correct  within  the  usual  tolerances,  the  remaining 
60  per  cent  delivering  inaccurate  quantities  of  commodity.  Of  those 
incorrect,  specifically  listed  in  the  per  centage  columns,  90  per  cent  were 
"fast"  as  distinguished  from  the  remaining  10  per  cent  which  deliv- 
ered more  than  the  indicated  amount.  As  usual,  the  errors  on  the 
"slow"  scales  averaged  much  smaller  than  those  which  were  in  favor  of 
the  user,  and  in  this  case  no  scale  was  listed  as  more  than  9  per  cent 
slow ;  the  scales  which  delivered  underweight  often  showed  most  serious 
errors,  nearly  25  per  cent  of  all  scales  in  the  percentage  columns  having 
a  greater  error  than  9  per  cent;  while  about  14  per  cent  had  errors 
ranging  from  12.5  per  cent  to  28  per  cent. 

The  above  percentage  and  class  of  errors  do  not  differ  very  greatly 
from  those  already  found  in  the  neighboring  city  of  San  Francisco, 
where  only  34  per  cent  of  the  scales  in  use  were  found  correct.  It  may 
be  said,  however,  that  the  smaller  stores  in  Oakland  are  relatively  better 
than  similar  stores  in  San  Francisco,  while  the  larger  stores  show  more 
tendency  to  fraud  here. 

An  analysis  of  the  above  table  shows  so  many  large  errors  and  such  a 
preponderance  of  "fast"  scales  that  fraud  is  indicated  in  very  many 
cases.  Further  analysis  confirms  this  belief.  Thus,  in  one  large  stand 
in  one  of  the  best  market  places  of  the  city,  doing  a  very  large  business, 
seven  expensive  scales  were  in  use,  and  every  one  was  so  set  that  short- 
ages of  from  three  to  eleven  per  cent  were  constantly  delivered. 
Another  stand  had  three  scales  of  a  similar  make  and  here  also  every 
one  delivered  shortages  of  from  3  to  6  per  cent.  Again,  in  one  of  the 
largest  stores  in  the  city,  of  the  fourteen  scales  in  use,  nine  were  deliver- 
ing short  weight  from  1.7  per  cent  to  12  per  cent,  the  scales  in  which 
more  expensive  commodities  were  being  weighed  being  in  this  condi- 
tion. And  the  result  of  the  use  of  such  scales,  as  well  as  deliberate 
underweighing,  is  shown  when  it  is  discovered  that  of  fifty-one  pack- 
ages ready  for  delivery  to  the  customer,  82  per  cent  were  short  from 
.8  per  cent  to  9.4  per  cent.  The  proprietor  here  showed  his  criminal 
knowledge  of  conditions  by  his  strenuous  objections  to  having  his  pack- 
ages reweighed. 

The  public  fuel  market,  which  does  a  lar^e  business,  is  in  deplorable 
condition  and  fraud  of  all  kind  exists.  Although  an  inspection  was 
made  here,  only  a  few  scales  have  been  recorded,  in  order  that  these  con- 


—  17  — 

ditions  would  not  outweigh  in  importance  the  conditions  found  through- 
out the  city  as  a  whole.  And  it  is  a  fact  that  in  the  above  table  a  change 
of  only  one  or  two  per  cent  was  caused  by  this  work.  The  proprietor 
of  this  market  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  use  of  faulty  apparatus 
and  a  sign  is  prominently  displayed  at  the  entrance  requesting  that 
complaints  of  short  weighing  be  made.  He  reports  that  on  account  of 
the  lack  of  a  city  inspector  very  large  frauds  were  committed  in  stores 
near  the  market  outside  of  his  jurisdiction,  and  his  endeavors  were 
made  more  difficult  on  this  account.  As  usual  in  this  section,  few  beam 
scales  with  attached  computing  devices  were  found;  and  the  weights 
showed  but  little  tampering.  Those  found  were  usually  within  the  tol- 
erances allowed ;  errors,  when  found,  were  largely  caused,  we  believe,  by 
ordinary  wear  not  counteracted  by  efficient  inspection  and  adjustment. 

As  usual,  also,  few  dry  measures  were  found  in  use,  and  the  manner 
of  sale  of  these  commodities  can  only  be  determined  by  the  condition  of 
the  scales  above  set  forth.  Cranberries,  of  which  few  wrere  being  sold, 
were  largely  illegally  retailed  by  the  liquid  measure ;  shortages  of  about 
15  per  cent  necessarily  resulted.  It  appears  that  this  method  of  sale  is 
always  common,  although  they  are  occasionally  sold  by  legal  weights. 

The  liquid  measures  found  in  use  were  largely  short,  but  these  short- 
ages bear  evidence  of  being  original  errors  of  manufacturing,  rather 
than  of  any  alteration  made  by  the  merchants.  It  is  reported  by  dealers 
that  the  shortages  in  their  measures  were  known  to  them,  but  that 
nearly  all  of  those  on  sale  were  short,  and  standard-size  measures  were 
difficult  to  procure  in  the  city.  The  disuse  of  liquid  measures  in  some 
stores  was  also  noted,  and  in  these  cases,  shortages  on  liquid  commodities 
necessarily  followed,  since  containers  brought  by  consumers  very  often 
failed  to  hold  their  supposed  capacity. 

The  sale  of  butter  in  print  form  is  of  very  great  importance  on  account 
of  the  high  price  of  this  commodity,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  butter  is 
nearly  always  retailed  in  this  form  here,  bulk  butter  being  very  rarely 
encountered.  In  the  investigation  of  this  matter,  182  prints  of  the 
various  sizes  sold  have  been  weighed. 


REPORT  ON  AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  WEIGHTS  AND 
MEASURES  CONDITIONS  FOUND  IN  STOCKTON,  CALI- 
FORNIA, BY  THE  BUREAU  OF  STANDARDS,  IN  JANUARY, 
1911. 

The  city  of  Stockton,  California,  in  common  with  the  other  cities  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  State,  has  no  local  ordinances  on  the  subject  of 
weights  and  measures,  no  local  officials  to  test  the  apparatus  in  com- 
mercial use  and  no  official  standards  of  weight  and  measure. 

As  a  result  of  this  neglect  by  the  State  and  city,  the  conditions 
existing  here  are  very  chaotic,  and  large  inaccuracies  in  the  amounts 
delivered  as  standard  quantities  result;  and  the  consuming  public  is 
suffering  very  large  losses  thereby. 

The  condition  of  the  apparatus  in  use  will  first  be  considered,  after 
which  the  manner  of  sale  and  weights  of  special  commodities  will  be 
presented.  The  scale  table  follows. 


—  18  — 


SCALE    TABLE. 


Type. 

Total  number 
tested  

Correct. 

Incorrect. 

Past—  Minus.    Slow—  Plus. 

Otherwise  faulty. 

Number.. 

Per  cent  - 

J 

Per  cent  - 

CO 

?* 

s| 

fs 

l| 

ri 

o 

*! 

|C 

Beam  

4 

23 

11 

38 

1 
6 

4 

11 

25 

26 

36 
29 

3 
17 

7 
27 

75 

74 

64 
71 

-t-  1 

—  4 

+  1 

2 
5 

4 
11 

Computing  ... 
Spring  

—  4 

A 

(+  24%) 

Totals  

—  6 

—  5 

—  2 

+  1 

+  2 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  table  that  only  29  per  cent  of  the  scales 
tested  in  a  number  of  different  stores  of  the  city  are  correct,  the  very 
large  percentage  of  71  per  cent  delivering  inaccurate  quantities.  More- 
over, these  latter  scales  are  largely  in  the  favor  of  the  merchant  main- 
taining them,  since  81  per  cent  of  those  listed  in  the  percentage  columns 
tend  to  give  short  rather  than  over  weight.  These  figures  show  more 
inaccurate  apparatus  than  that  recently  found  in  San  Francisco,  and 
indicate  fraudulent  practices.  Fraud  is  undoubtedly  present,  and  while 
individual  shortages  are  not  always  as  great  as  in  the  larger  cities,  since 
smaller  errors  on  scales  usually  appear,  it  is  a  fact  that  half  of  the 
scales  mentioned  above  have  an  error  of  greater  than  6  per  cent.  The 
average  error  on  all  the  incorrect  scales  is  4.3  per  cent,  making  the  aver- 
age error  on  every  scale  examined  3.6  per  cent.  It  will  be  at  once  seen, 
therefore,  that  the  percentage  of  fraud  becomes  of  very  great  importance 
to  the  consumer  of  the  city,  and  to  the  honest  merchant  who  is  obliged 
to  withstand  widespread,  dishonest  competition. 

As  mentioned,  the  percentages  found  indicate  fraud,  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  errors  tends  to  still  further  confirm  this  impression.  Thus,  in 
some  stores,  all  the  scales  in  use  are  practically  correct,  while  in  others 
the  large  majority  in  use  are  imperfect.  Thus,  in  one  store  five  scales 
out  of  six  in  use  are  noted  as  having  errors  producing  deficiency  in 
weight  delivered;  in  another  store  two  out  of  the  three  scales  in  use 
have  shortages  of  4  per  cent  and  9  per  cent,  respectively;  and  several 
others  have  every  scale  in  use  incorrect.  Also  some  stores  use  scales  of 
the  cheapest  construction,  such  as  family  spring  scales,  for  weiirhin'_: 
coffee,  tea,  and  other  high-priced  commodities  for  which  they  are  wholly 
nnsuited,  some  having  natural  variations  of  more  than  6  per  cent. 

As  is  usual  in  most  cities  in  California,  few  very  serious  errors  are 
found  upon  the  weights  in  use.  The  greatest  discrepancies  discovered 
are  errors  of  slightly  less  than  1£  per  cent  upon  counterpoise  weights 
having  ratios  of  (8-1)  and  (64-1).  Such  errors  developed  shortages  <>!' 
about  one  half  pound  on  eighty  pounds  on  this  scale. 

The  custom  of  selling  dry  commodities  by  weight  is  adhered  to  here 
as  in  those  cities  of  the  State  reported  upon  previously.  Cranberries. 
which  have  been  found  to  be  an  exception  to  the  general  rule,  are  largely 
out  of  season,  but  that  these  are  sold  by  liquid  measure  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  those  on  sale  are  all  noted  as  being  retailed  in  this  way. 
the  usual  shortages  of  about  15  per  cent  necessarily  resulting. 

The  liquid  measures  in  use  are  quite  largely  inaccurate,  but  the  errors 
found  seem  to  be  the  faults  of  original  manufacture  and  subsequent 


—  19  — 


deterioration  rather  than  any  fraudulent  alteration  on  the  part  of  the 
users.  Consequently,  measures  are  found  both  large  and  small,  errors 
of  more  than  6  per  cent  existing  in  some  cases. 

The  sale  of  creamery  butter  in  print  form  here  is  very  chaotic  and 
large  shortages  exist,  and  consequently  the  loss  to  the  consumers  of  the 
city  is  a  very  great-  one.  Only  two  sizes  are  found,  i.  e.,  the  two-pound 
and  one-pound,  and  although  some  manufacturers  are  billing  their 
product  by  the  ''roll,"  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  these  reach  the 
consumer  at  the  above  stated  weights.  Since  it  is  not  apparent  that  any 
reduction  whatever  has  resulted  from  the  shortages  in  the  weights  fur- 
nished, it  must  be  concluded  that  any  such  shortage  is  an  actual  loss  to 
the  consumer.  One  hundred  and  fifty-six  pounds  of  the  product  fur- 
nished here  was  weighed  up  in  individual  prints.  The  data  so  collected 
has  been  tabulated  in  the  usual  way,  and  is  contained  in  the  following 
table : 

PRINT  BUTTER. 


Number. 

Average 

Errors  —  , 

Average. 

Total. 

Full 
weight. 

Light 
weight. 

ounces. 

Ounces. 

Per  cent. 

2-lb 

17 

17 

30.59 

—  1.41 

—  4.5 

Stockton 

2-lb. 

10 

10 

30.43 

—  1.57 

—  4.9 

Banner 

2-lb. 

5 

1 

4 

31.56 

—     .44 

—  1.4 

Cracker  Jack         __    

2-lb. 

5 

2 

3 

31.34 

—     .66 

—  2.1 

Gilt  Edge 

2-lb. 

5 

1 

4 

31.63 

—     .37 

—  1.2 

Valley 

2-lb 

3 

3 

30.3 

—  1.70 

—  5.3 

Griffiths 

2-lb. 

5 

5 

30.12 

—  1.88 

—  5.9 

Riverside                      

2-lb. 

8 

2 

6 

31.56 

—     .44 

—  1.4 

2-lb 

Q 

2 

4 

Totals                 —      

64 

8 

56 

88 

30.93 

Average  shortage  of  prints 

—  1.07 

.—  3.3 

Stockton 

1-lb. 

5 

1 

4 

15.59 

—     .41 

—  2.6 

Crown 

l-lb. 

10 

10 

15.31 

.69 

—  4.2 

Valley 

1-lb. 

10 

10 

15.09 

—     .91 

—  5.7 

Ranch                             -  

1-lb. 

3 

2 

1 

16.21 

+     .21 

+  1.3 

Totals                          

28 

3 

25 

—90 

15.38 

—     .62 

3.88 

Per  cent  of  all  prints  short 

—88 

Average  shortage  of  all  prints 

—  3.4 

It  will  be  seen  that  of  the  64  two-pound  prints  of  nine  different 
brands  weighed,  88  per  cent  are  short ;  the  average  weights  of  the  vari- 
ous brands  being  short  by  amounts  varying  from  1.4  per  cent  to  5.9  per 
cent,  the  heaviest  brand  being  the  product  of  local  ranches  and  dairies. 
The  average  shortage  on  all  of  this  size  sold  is  found  to  be  —  3.3  per 
cent. 

Of  the  one-pound  prints  of  four  different  brands  discovered  on  sale 
and  weighed,  90  per  cent  are  short.  One  brand,  the  product  of  local 
ranches  and  dairies,  is  overweight  by  +1.3  per  cent.  The  other  brands 
all  average  short  by  amounts  varying  from  —  2.6  to  —  5.77  per  cent ; 
the  average  shortage  on  all  of  this  size  is  3.88  per  cent. 

These  figures  make  a  total  of  88  per  cent  of  the  butter  short,  with  an 
average  shortage  on  the  entire  product  of  —  3.7  per  cent. 

On  a  total  of  30,000  inhabitants,  the  loss,  making  the  same  assump- 
tion as  in  San  Francisco  and  Oakland,  is  slightly  in  excess  of  $10,000  a 
year  on  this  one  commodity  alone. 


—  20  — 

Not  enough  packages  done  up  for  delivery  were  found  here  to  make 
the  average  a  fair  criterion  of  the  city.  It  may  be  stated,  however,  that 
75  per  cent  of  the  stores  showed  an  average  shortage  on  all  packages 
weighed,  this  varying  from  — 1.8  per  cent  to  —  5.4  per  cent.  Indi- 
vidual packages  sometimes  showed  discrepancies  of  nearly  14  per  cent. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  conditions  here  do  not  vary  greatly  from 
those  detailed  in  the  cities  of  the  State  inspected  and  reported  upon 
previously.  And  it  is  clear  that  remedial  legislation  of  the  same  char- 
acter as  that  detailed  heretofore  is  very  necessary  here  also. 


REPORT  ON  AN  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  WEIGHTS  AND 
MEASURES  CONDITIONS  FOUND  IN  SACRAMENTO,  CALI- 
FORNIA, BY  THE  BUREAU  OF  STANDARDS,  IN  DECEM- 
BER, 1910. 

The  city  of  Sacramento,  the  capital  of  California,  has  no  ordinances 
in  relation  to  weights  and  measures,  no  inspection  service,  and  no  city 
standards  of  weights  and  measures  by  means  of  which  the  accuracy  of 
the  apparatus  in  commercial  use  might  be  determined. 

The  standards  furnished  the  State  by  the  United  States  Government 
are  by  law  placed  in  the  custody  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  are  kept 
in  the  capitol  building.  The  present  incumbent  of  the  office  states  that 
the  set  was  incomplete  at  the  beginning  of  his  term  and  had  been  so  for 
some  years.  The  apparatus  on  hand  was  examined,  and  it  was  found 
that  most  of  the  avoirdupois  weights  and  a  few  other  pieces  were  miss- 
ing. A  list  of  the  apparatus  and  the  condition  of  the  same  are  detailed 
on  the  state  sealer's  record  sheet  attached  to  this  report. 

The  general  conditions  existing  throughout  the  city  as  revealed  by 
this  inspection  shows  very  clearly  the  chaotic  state  of  affairs,  following, 
the  neglect  of  this  subject  by  the  State  and  local  authorities. 

The  condition  of  the  apparatus  in  use  will  first  be  detailed,  after 
which  the  weights  and  manner  of  sale  of  special  commodities  will  be 
considered.  The  scale  table  is  first  presented  : 

SCALE  TABLE. 


H 

Cor 

rect 

9 

f? 

wit 

bin 

Inco 

r  rect. 

Fast—  Minus 

Slow—  Plu 

a. 

af 

1 

3  per 

ceut 

i 

Type. 

her  tested. 

Number.. 

? 
I 

f 

Per  cont  . 

M 

ft 

fl 

fl 

O 

is 

Is 

i" 
£ 

Beam 

1 

1 

100 

14 

3 

21 

11 

79 

e 

_1 

_  1 

i 

Spring 

13 

3 

23 

10 

77 

—  2 

—  i;  +1 

—  i 

9 

3 

(-6  to  257o) 

Totals  

28 

7 

25 

21 

75 

—  10 

—  2;  -fl 

—  i 

—  3 

4 

"Otherwise  faulty"  scales  are  those  showing  errors  of  plus-minus  J  oz.  or  more  at  any  point 
from  8  oz.  to  3  IDS.,  inclusive;  plus-minus  1  oz.  from  3  Ibs.  to  10  Ibs.,  Inclusive;  plus-minus 
2  ozs.  above  10  Ibs.;  or  scales  which,  on  account  of  faulty  construction  or  their  condition,  are 
liable  to  show  these  errors. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  table  that  only  25  per  cent  of  the  scales 
in  use  found  in  all  parts  of  the  city  can  be  listed  as  correct,  the  usual 
tolerances  being  granted  in  every  case.  The  cases  in  which  faulty 
scales  are  giving  overweight  are  so  few  as  to  be  practically  negligible, 


-31- 


only  6  per  cent  of  those  listed  in  trie  percentage  columns  being  in  this 
condition.  In  some  cases  the  errors  were  very  serious,  being  over  12 
per  cent  in  18  per  cent  of  the  above  jlass ;  and  41  per  cent  had  a  greater 
error  than  6  per  cent.  Many  of  tr-ese  scales  were  very  faulty  in  con- 
struction, or  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition,  as  is  evidenced  by  one 
scale  which  had  a  varying  error  of  from  6  per  cent  to  more  than  40 
per  cent,  according  to  the  way  in  which  the  commodity  to  be  weighed  is 
placed  upon  the  pan.  A  line  of  groceries  was  being  retailed  by  the  use 
of  this  scale,  and  a  large  amount  of  poultry  at  a  high  price  per  pound 
was  also  being  sold  by  the  weights  indicated  on  this  scale. 

Although  some  of  the  errors  were  probably  due  to  carelessness  or 
ignorance,  fraud  is  shown,  we  believe,  by  the  great  preponderance  of 
"fast"  scales  as  distinguished  from  those  which  give  more  than  the 
indicated  amount.  In  many  stores  every  scale  in  use  delivered  less 
than  the  represented  amount,  and  thus  in  these  stores  the  great  majority 
of  delivered  packages  were  short  in  weight. 

Very  few  beam  scales  without  springs  or  attached  computing  devices 
were  found,  as  is  indicated  by  the  above  table.  As  a  result,  very  few 
weights  are  in  use,  and  thus  few  have  been  tested.  These  are  usually 
within  the  tolerance  allowed,  although  a  few  show  discrepancies. 

As  usual  in  this  section,  no  dry  measures  are  being  used,  vegetables, 
etc.,  being  bought  and  sold  by  weight  in  the  majority  of  cases.  An 
exception  usually  occurs  in  the  case  of  cranberries,  these  being  largely 
sold  by  liquid  instead  of  dry  measure,  the  usual  shortages,  approx- 
imating 15  per  cent,  resulting. 

The  liquid  measures  in  use  do  not  show  any  signs  of  having  been 
fraudulently  altered  and  have  about  the  same  errors  as  when  manufac- 
tured. These  errors  are  usually  not  greater  than  2  per  cent  and  varia- 
tions both  in  excess  and  deficiency  were  disclosed. 

The  majority  of  the  butter  sold  here  is  retailed  in  "brick"  or 
"print"  form  of  "one"  and  "two-pound"  sizes,  the  latter  being  the 
more  usual  size.  The  weight  of  the  "print"  delivered  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  since  shortages  mean  an  enormous  aggregate  loss  to  the  con- 
sumers of  the  cities.  In  the  investigation  of  this  matter  112  "Ibs."  of 
butter  of  six  different  brands  found  on  sale  have  been  weighed,  the 
data  being  presented  in  the  following  table : 

BUTTER  TABLE. 


Brand. 

Size. 

Number. 

Average 
ounces. 

Errors  —  Average. 

Total. 

Full 

weight. 

Light 
weight. 

Ounces. 

Per  cent. 

Crystal  Cream 

1-lb. 
1-lb. 

9 

7 

9 
4 

15.44 
15.86 

—     .56 
14 

3  5 

The  Creamerie* 

3 

—     .9 
81.0 

Totals  

16 

3 

13 

Per  cent  of  prints  short 

Average  weight  of  prints 

15  63 

Average  shortage  of  prints 

.37 

—     .99 
64 

—  2.3 

—  3.1 

2  0 

2-lb 

6 
12 
13 
9 
5 
3 

6 
12 
13 
9 
5 
3 

31.01 
31.36 
30.73 
31.38 
30.71 
30.97 

Cornellia 

2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 

Monarch  

—  1.27 
62 

—  4.0 
1  9 

Best  Creameryf 

The  Creamerie 

—  1.29 
—  1.03 

—  4. 
—  3.2 

100 

Ranch  butter 

Totals 

48 

48 

Per  cent  of  prints  short 

Average  weight  of  prints  

31.06 

Average  shortage  of  prints 

.94 

2.9 

*Marked  "One  pound.     Full  weight. 


tMarked  "Full  weight.     Two  pounds. 


—  22—  - 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  taHe  that  of  48  "two-pound"  prints 
\\oiirhed,  every  one  was  short.  The  heaviest  brand  was  marked  "Full 
Weight.  Two  Pounds,"  and  lacks  ^n  average  of  .62  ozs.  on  each  print; 
a  shortage  of  1.9  per  cent,  while  the  two  lightest  brands  averaged  only 
30.71  and  30.73  ounces  in  weight,  the  shortage  in  this  case  being  1.29 
ounces  and  1.27  ounces,  or  4  per  cent  per  print.  Individual  "two- 
pound"  prints  were  sometimes  3  ounces,  or  9.4  per  cent  short. 

In  the  "pound"  size,  two  brands  are  found.  The  heavier  was  marked 
"One  Pound.  Full  Weight,"  ?nd  weighed  15.86  ounces,  the  short  a^v 
thus  being  only  .14  ounces,  or  .9,-per  cent  per  print.  The  lightest  brand 
had  an  average  shortage  of  .56  ounces,  or  3.5  per  cent,  the  average  of  all 
prints  of  this  size  found  being  35.63  ounces,  a  shortage  of  2.3  per  cent. 
When  it  is  considered  what  an  jsnormous  aggregate  number  of  pounds 
of  butter  are  used  by  the  people  of  the  city,  the  above  shortages  will  be 
seen  to  represent  an  enormous  loss  to  the  people  in  the  course  of  a  year. 

With  the  above  record  of  apparatus  it  is  to  be  expected  that  shortages 
will  generally  exist  in  the  amounts  of  commodity  delivered  to  the  con- 
sumer. The  use  of  the  majority  of  faulty  scales  could  not  be  checked 
in  this  way  since  on  these  scales  packages  are  rarely  done  up  and  kept 
ready  for  delivery;  but  are  usually  weighed  only  as  ordered.  In  s»  \ 
eral  stores  packages  were  found,  and  those  weighed  have  been  tal>ula1r<l 
in  the  following  table : 


—  23  — 


t- 

Errors. 

Average. 

Per  cent-- 

<N  l£ 

5        CO  t~ 

C5             0  -f  t->s 

,  «>      .         .                 I-               f 

•  c^      m      c<j 

5 

;  1  variable  error. 
1  weight  in  any  state  "16  ounces  per  quart." 

"  + 

\ 

gi 

1      +C 

)  i  V          °° 

Ounces  

1^  in  I.T         rH 
Csl  <N  r-         CT> 

CJ         rH  <N' 

+  1    1 

gsssa* 

S 

l?5  CO  rH  U 
+            | 

03 

1 

1    +++  1 

I 
1 

Per  cent- 

CO 

1 

i 
! 

j 

Ounces  

8 

CO 

1 

1 

i 

1 

i 

Average. 

Oun 

£88    S 

gg^ss 

<71  ' 

888883 

c§ 

ces  co 

rH^S 

rHrH        * 

s 

V 

)     in  t>  v 

2 

Pou 

nds  

jcomrH 

I-H   CO 

H 

1H 

Lightest. 

Oun 

ces 

II 

—  r~ 
|K 

<y 

1 

•  i 
88  !< 

*•    § 

I 

! 

i 

Pou 

nds  

r 
1 

rH  rH 

r-i 

j 

i 

Heaviest. 

Oun 

ces 

812 

•"*  i-H 

rH 

5 
ir 

00  <*! 
00  rH 

rH         C 
00        C 

Pou 

nds 

leo 

rHrH 

1-1 

i 

fc 

Light  weight  

00  (N  r- 

rHCC 

00 

in  os 

rH         1 

i 

S 

•? 

rH  r- 

rHrH        10 

Full 

weight  

1*7 

~ 

rHrHrH 

CO 

^ 

»« 

Tots 

il  

oo  co  r-i  r- 

0 

01 

1 

8 

| 

Quarts  

C 

^ 

-  r  i    i    i 

!  r 

Oun 

ces  

00 

Tt<                    00 

Pounds  

l-H  CO  CO  C- 

1-1 

CM^rH^rH 

rHCO  rHrH 

Commodity. 

'-1  t- 
a  K 

fcJOt 

cox 

K 

Q  ij 

•2 

S- 
cS 
i/ 

X 

1 

Totals  

Per  cent  of  cackaees  short 

Average  shortage  of  packages  
Scales:  1—12%;  1  varies  —6%  to  —43%. 

Mixed  nuts  .  
Mixed  nuts  

Prunes  __ 

i 
I 

1 

o; 

Totals  — 

Per  cent  of  narkneos  short 

Average  shortage  of  packages  
Scales:  1  —35%;  1  4.7%. 
Nuts 

rf 
3 
X 

1 

u 

t 

s 

X 

i 

^ 

1 

c 
c; 

e 

Cranberries*  __ 

Totals  __  

Per  cent  of  packages  short  
Average  shortage  of  packages.— 

«i 
B 

-I 

j^ 

if 

8 

cc 

—  24  — 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  every  store  in  which  packages 
have  been  weighed  has  more  than  80  per  cent  of  these  short  in  weight. 
Average  shortages  on  all  packages  are  7.9  per  cent,  5.7  per  cent  and  5.2 
per  cent,  respectively.  Individual  packages  were  sometimes  19  per  cent 
short  of  the  represented  amount.  And  it  will  be  seen  that  in  two  of  the 
three  stores  the  average  shortage  of  the  packages  found  is  greater  than 
the  shortage  on  any  scale  in  the  store,  indicating  that  the  weights  deliv- 
ered were  even  shorter  than  would  be  indicated  by  the  scales  themselves. 

Summarizing  the  above  data  it  will  be  noted  that  89  per  cent  of  all 
the  packages  found  done  up  were  short  in  weight,  and  that  the  total 
average  shortage  amounted  to  6.5  per  cent. 

We  believe  that  it  is  unquestionable  that  the  above  data  represents  a 
most  chaotic  state  of  affairs.  The  large  percentages  of  faulty  apparatus ; 
the  shortages  in  the  prints  of  butter ;  the  manner  of  sale  of  commodities ; 
and  the  shortages  in  general  commodities  delivered,  all  point  to  the 
imperative  necessity  of  an  inspection  service  which  will  keep  the  appa- 
ratus correct  and  so  supervise  the  sale  of  commodities  that  fraud  will 
become  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule,  as  seems  to  be  at  present  the 
case.  And  until  laws  are  passed  by  the  State  and  local  government 
regulating  this  important  matter,  a  very  large  loss  to  the  consuming 
public  and  to  the  honest  and  legitimate  merchant  is  bound  to  continue 
unchecked. 


REPORT  ON  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES  CONDITIONS  FOUND 
IN  LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA,  BY  THE  BUREAU  OF 
STANDARDS,  IN  JANUARY,  1911. 

The  city  of  Los  Angeles,  California,  has  by  ordinance  created  the 
office  of  Sealer  of  Weights  and  Measures  and  provided  the  powers  and 
duties  of  such  officer.  This  ordinance,  a  copy  of  which  is  attached,  is 
quite  a  good  one,  although  we  believe  it  might  be  improved  by  providing 
for  confiscation  of  incorrect  apparatus,  etc.  The  system  provides  for 
the  collection  of  fees  for  work  done  and  this,  we  believe,  is  unjust;  and, 
in  addition,  prevents  the  best  cooperation  between  the  merchants  and 
the  sealer.  Although  fees  are  never  charged  more  than  once  in  each 
year,  it  is  found  that  great  bitterness  is  sometimes  engendered  when 
more  frequent  inspections  are  made,  and  this  seems  bound  to  cause 
unnecessary  friction  between  the  sealer  and  the  merchants  of  the  city. 
The  sealer  here  is  not  in  favor  of  the  fee  system,  but  thus  far  it  has 
been  impossible  to  have  the  fees  abolished.  Since  every  person  in  the 
city  benefits  by  the  inspections,  however,  it  seems  a  more  equitable  pro- 
ceeding to  require  the  support  of  the  department  by  direct  taxation, 
rather  than  by  levying  a  tax  on  a  particular  class,  which  is  the  result  of 
the  present  method.  It  has  been  continually  shown  in  the  past,  also, 
that  higher  efficiency  almost  invariably  follows  a  change  of  this  char- 
acter. 

The  sealer  is  provided  with  an  office  in  the  city  hall,  with  the  neces- 
sary standards  with  which  to  carry  on  his  work  and  with  a  horse  and 
wagon  to  properly  transport  the  standards  throughout  the  city.  Up  to 
a  short  time  ago  a  set  of  weights  and  measures  were  set  aside  for  pri- 
mary standards,  and  these  were  used  only  to  test  the  working  standards 
in  actual  use.  Since  the  recent  appointment  of  an  additional  deputy, 


—  25 


however,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  convert  all  standards  into 
working  standards;  as  a  result,  the  city  has  no  primary  standards  of 
weight  and  measure. 

The  force  of  the  department  consists  of  a  sealer  and  two  deputies. 
The  actual  tests  are  usually  made  by  two  of  these  men,  the  third  spend- 
ing the  majority  of  his  time  in  the  investigation  of  complaints,  the 
prosecuting  of  offenders,  and  other  special  work.  This  force  is  able  to 
test  practically  all  the  apparatus  in  use  in  the  city  about  once  in  each 
year,  and  often  makes  special  or  surprise  inspections  more  frequently 
than  this.  Loads  of  coal  are  frequently  reweighed,  as  are  packages 
done  up  by  the  merchant  ready  for  delivery;  print  butter  is  also  fre- 
quently weighed  by  the  department. 

It  is  reported  by  the  sealer  that  it  is  found  necessary  to  proceed 
against  about  six  or  seven  offenders  a  month,  for  violation  of  the  ordi- 
nances. In  nearly  every  case  the  proceedings  are  successful.  Fines 
levied  vary  from  $20  in  the  average  case  to  $100,  the  maximum  under 
the  ordinance,  in  exceptional  cases. 

It  may  be  said  at  once  that  the  conditions  existing  here  are  far  better 
than  in  any  city  of  -California  visited  up  to  the  present  time,  and  that 
it  is  apparent  that  this  is  the  direct  result  of  the  inspection  service  in 
vogue.  A  resume  of  the  apparatus  inspected  will,  we  believe,  at  once 
prove  the  correctness  of  the  above  statement ;  and  the  following  tabula- 
tions showing  the  manner  of  sale  of  commodities,  weights  of  special 
commodities,  etc.,  will  serve  to  confirm  this  impression. 

The  tabulation  of  the  condition  of  the  scales  inspected  here  follows : 

SCALE   TABLE. 


Hj 

c. 

Correct 

O 

p 

within 

Incorrect. 

Fast  —  Minus.     Slow  —  Plus. 

0* 

3  per  cent. 

^ 

C 

E 

1 

c 

>* 

y, 

3 

CO 

? 

•3   § 

c 

1 

o. 

! 

I 

1 

! 

M 

,   I 

h 

1  (_l 

«< 

Beam 

33 

29 

88 

4 

12 

—  3 

_  i 

Computing 

59 

36 

61 

23 

39 

—  8;  +2 

—  8;  +1 

—  2 

2 

Spring 

37 

14 

38 

23 

62 

6'  +1 

—  1 

—  3 

—  4* 

8 

—  17 

Totals  

129 

79 

61.2 

50 

38.8 

+  3 

—  9;  +1 

—  6 

—  4 

10 

*  One  of  these  was  minus  19  per  cent  and  one  minus  28  per  cent. 

"Otherwise  faulty"  scales  are  those  showing  errors  of  plus-minus  |  oz.  or  more  at  any  point 
from  8  oz.  to"  3  Ibs.,  inclusive;  plus-minus  1  oz.  from  3  Ibs.  to  10  Ibs.,  inclusive;  plus-minus 
2  ozs.  above  10  Ibs.;  or  scales  which,  on  account  of  faulty  construction  or  their  condition,  are 
liable  to  show  these  errors. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  table  that  61.2  per  cent  of  all  the  scales 
tested  throughout  the  city  are  correct  within  the  usual  tolerances ;  the 
remaining  38.8  per  cent  delivering  inaccurate  quantities.  As  usual, 
those  scales  incorrect  are  largely  delivering  less  than  the  indicated 
amounts,  90  per  cent  of  those  specifically  listed  being  in  this  condition 
here.  Several  scales,  all  of  these  of  the  spring  variety,  have  serious 
errors  of  more  than  12  per  cent.  Fifty  per  cent  of  the  scales  listed  in 
the  percentage  columns  have  the  smallest  listed  percentage  error,  how- 
ever, i.  e.,  3  to  6  per  cent ;  while  75  per  cent  are  within  9  per  cent. 

Analyzing  the  types  of  scales,  we  .find  the  scales  without  attached 
springs  or  computing  devices  the  most  accurate  class,  with  88  per  cent 
correct.  Computing  scales  follow  with  61  per  cent  accurate;  while  the 


—  26  — 


spring  scales  have  only  38  per  cent  correct.  In  regard  to  this  latter 
class  it  should  be  stated  that  many  spring  scales  of  the  cheapest  con- 
struction are  in  use,  and  that  many  of  these  are  incorrect  when  sold. 
In  one  distributing  store  the  sealer  reports  that  75  per  cent  of  this  type 
on  sale  were  incorrect;  and  your  inspector  tested  one  here  which  some- 
times showed  an  error  of  38  per  cent  on  one  pound.  Yet  the  sealer 
has  no  authority  to  prevent  their  sale  and  as  a  result  many  are  found 
in  use.  It  is  then  much  more  difficult  to  eliminate  them;  partly  because 
of  the  infrequeucy  of  the  tests;  and  partly  because  the  merchants 
advance  the  argument  that  they  were  bought  in  good  faith  and  they 
should  be  protected  from  being  imposed  on  in  this  way.  There  is  cer- 
tainly a  firm  foundation  for  the  last  contention,  and  the  authority  of 
the  sealer  should  extend  over  all  apparatus  on  sale  over  which  he  now 
eventually  has  jurisdiction.  This  is  one  of  the  features  of  the  State 
legislation  endorsed  by  this  Bureau. 

In  order  to  show  the  general  increase  in  accuracy  due  to  the  inspec- 
tion service  a  comparison  might  be  drawn  between  Los  Angeles  and  the 
combined  cities  of  San  Francisco  and  Oakland,  California,  these  ciiies 
being  the  only  ones  having  an  adequate  population  for  direct  compari- 
son of  conditions.  In  order  to  facilitate  this  object,  the  following  fig- 
ures may  be  presented : 


City. 

Total 

number 

fcfll 

tested. 

IVr  c.-iit 
of  total 
scales 
correct. 

Average 
per  cent 
of  error 
on  all 
incorrect 
scales. 

Average 
pt>r  cent 
of  error 
on  all 
scales  . 

Los  Angeles 

129 

61.2% 

5  76% 

2.31% 

San  Francisco  and  Oakland    .          _.          . 

230 

33.9% 

6.80% 

4.53% 

The  above  table  shows  the  following  facts:  First,  that  80  per  cent 
more  of  the  scales  are  incorrect  in  the  combined  cities  than  in  Los 
Angeles;  second,  that  the  average  error  on  incorrect  scales  is  19  per 
cent  greater  in  the  combined  cities;  and,  third,  that  the  error  on  the 
average  scale  in  use  is  96  per  cent  greater  in  the  combined  cities  than 
on  the  average  scale  in  use  in  the  city  of  Los  Angeles;  and  this  figure 
furnishes  a  direct  basis  of  comparison  between  the  districts  mentioned. 
We  consider  that  the  above  figures  carry  an  incontrovertible  conclusion, 
and  furnish  an  argument  for  inspection  service  which  no  reasoning  can 
gainsay. 

The  weights  in  use  on  the  beam  scales  show  a  perfect  record,  93  per 
cent  being  within  one  half  of  one  per  cent,  while  the  remaining  7  per 
cent  have  an  error  of  less  than  one  per  cent  in  every  case. 

Dry  commodities  are  here  almost  universally  sold  by  weight,  no  dry 
measures  being  found  in  use.  Cranberries  are  sometimes  sold  by  liquid 
measure,  although  so  very  few  are  now  on  the  market  that  it  is  difficult 
to  determine  how  extensively  this  practice  prevails.  The  sealer  admits 
that  up  to  the  past  year  they  have  been  sold  in  this  manner.  During 
the  past  season  an  endeavor  was  made  to  eliminate  the  practice  and  it 
was  to  some  extent  abolished. 

The  liquid  measures  found  in  use  are  usually  accurate,  88  per  cent 
being  within  3  per  cent  of  the  correct  size.  The  greatest  shortage  found 
is  5.6  per  cent  on  the  pint  size.  A  Mason's  quart  jar  used  as  a  bulk 
measure  was  being  filled  in  such  a  way  that  shortages  of  4.3  per  cent 
were  delivered,  although  the  jar  filled  absolutely  full  held  the  required 


—  27  — 


amount.  No  faulty  oil  pumps  have  been  found  in  use  here.  Recently 
tests  have  been  made  by  the  city  department  upon  the  large  liquid 
measures  used  by  the  oil  companies  and  milk  dealers  of  the  city.  A 
large  number  of  these  have  been  found  to  be  short  and  such  measures 
are  being  condemned  and  replaced.  Seventy-two  5-gallon  measures 
belonging  to  an  individual  company  have  thus  been  removed  from  use. 

As  noted  above,  the  department  has  made  a  very  serious  effort  to 
compel  the  sale  of  full-weight  butter  to  the  consumers  and  merchants 
of  the  city.  A  large  number  of  prints  of  various  brands  have  been 
weighed  to  determine  the  result  of  these  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  local 
officials.  The  subject  is  of  additional  interest  on  account  of  an  ordi- 
nance of  the  city  which  compels  the  sale  of  butter  by  weight. 

The  data  collected  is  tabulated  in  the  usual  manner.  This  table  fol- 
lows : 

BUTTER  TABLE. 


Si/e 

Number. 

Average 

Errors  — 

\verage. 

Total. 

Full 
weight. 

Light 
weight. 

ounces. 

Ounces. 

Per  cent. 

1-lb 

35 

2 

33 

15  48 

52 

3  3 

La  France 

1-lb 

20 

20 

15  57 

—      43 

2  7 

Imperial 

1-lb. 

15 

9 

6 

15.87 

—     .13 

—     .8 

1-lb. 

16 

4 

12 

15  68 

—      32 

—  20 

Whittier 

1-lb. 

16 

5 

11 

15.9 

—      10 

—      6 

Rivera                 

1-lb. 

16 

16 

15.51 

—     .49 

—  3.1 

Maple  Grove 

1-lb 

12 

1 

11 

15  41 

—      59 

—  3  7 

Geo    H    Smith                 

1-lb. 

10 

10 

15.68 

—      32 

—  2.0 

Pansy 

1-lb 

9 

1 

8 

15  75 

25 

—  16 

Clover  Glen 

1-lb. 

13 

2 

11 

15  72 

—      28 

—  1  7 

1-lb 

g 

2 

6 

15  67 

33 

2  1 

El  Centro 

1-lb. 

7 

7 

15  35 

—      65 

—  4  1 

Santa  Anita 

-Ib. 

9 

7 

2 

15.99 

—     .01 

O.  K 

Challenge      ^  

-Ib. 

7 

1 

6 

15.79 

—     .21 

—  1.3 

Ralph's  Best 

-Ib. 

7 

3 

4 

15.82 

—      18 

—  1  1 

Ralph's 

-Ib 

g 

4 

4 

15  97 

03 

O    K 

Normandie 

-Ib 

7 

7 

15.43 

—     .57 

—  3  6 

Orange  County 

-Ib. 

7 

•  7 

15.21 

—     .79 

—  4  9 

Central  Cream 

-Ib 

7 

7 

15  61 

—      39 

2  4 

Oak  Glen 

1-lb. 

6 

6 

15.78 

—      22 

—  1.4 

Pride  of  California 

1-lb 

6 

4 

2 

15  97 

03 

—      2 

Poppy 

1-lb. 

6 

6 

15  77 

—      23 

—  1  4 

Gold  Seal 

1-lb 

6 

6 

15  33 

67 

4  2 

Sunlight 

1-lb 

6 

1 

5 

15  58 

—      42 

2  6 

Ideal 

1-lb. 

6 

6 

15.78 

—     .22 

—  14 

Eureka    

1-lb. 

6 

5 

1 

16.45 

+     .45 

+  2.8 

Popular 

l-lb. 

4 

4 

15  5 

—      50 

3  1 

Belle  Vernon  _ 

l-lb. 

3 

3 

15.4 

—     .60 

—  3.7 

1-lb 

2 

1 

1 

15  91 

09 

Q 

Finest 

l-lb. 

2 

2 

15.88 

—     .12 

—      7 

Columbia 

l-lb 

1 

1 

15  63 

37 

2  3 

Blue  Grass 

l-lb. 

4 

4 

15  19 

—      81 

—  51 

Montgomery  &  Tone  . 

l-lb. 

6 

6 

14.83 

—  1.17 

—  7.3 

Lenmore 

l-lb. 

7 

3 

4 

15  83 

—      17 

1  i 

Crown  Grocery      

l-lb. 

6 

1 

5 

15.72 

—      28 

—  1  7 

Favorite 

l-lb. 

2 

1 

15  94 

06 

4 

Parker's  Gilt  Edge  

l-lb. 

1 

1 

15  82 

—      18 

—  11 

Totals 

309 

57 

231 

Per  cent  of  prints  short-  - 

81 

Average  weight  of  prints 

15  66 

Average  shortage  of  prints 

34 

2  12 

Finest 

2-lb 

5 

5 

31  08 

92 

—  29 

Central  Cream 

2-lb. 

5 

2 

3 

31  25 

—      75 

—  2  3 

Geo    H    Smith 

2-lb 

5 

5 

31  47 

53 

1  7 

Ralph's  Best 

2-ib 

6 

4 

2 

31  89 

11 

3 

Power's    Fancy   Special    

2-lb. 

6 

2 

4 

31.76 

—      24 

—      8 

Oak  Glen 

2-lb 

5 

5 

31  17 

83 

—  26 

Jevne's 

2-lb 

3 

3 

31  97 

03 

1 

Ralph's  Best 

2-lb 

2 

2 

31  38 

&> 

—      9 

Totals 

40 

11 

29 

Pei  cent  of  prints  short  

72  5 

Average  weight  of  prints 

31  54 

Average  shortage  of  prints  

.40 

.1.44 

Average  shortage  of  prints,  1.98  per  cent. 


Average  per  cent  of  all  prints  short,  80.5. 


—  28  — 


The  above  table  shows  the  results  of  weighings  made  on  349  individ- 
ual prints  of  the  1-pound  and  2-pound  sizes,  aggregating  389  pounds 
of  butter  of  nearly  40  different  brands.  The  1-pound  prints  predom- 
inate in  the  tables,  since  a  greater  proportion  of  the  butter  is  sold  in 
this  size.  Eighty  per  cent  of  the  1-pound  prints  and  72  per  cent  of  the 
2-pound  prints  are. short  in  net  weight.  Analysis  shows  that  the  differ- 
ent brands  vary  in  average  weight  from  +  2.8  per  cent,  the  heaviest 
brand,  to  —  5.1  per  cent  and  —  7.3  per  cent,  the  lightest  brands.  The 
latter  bears  the  name  of  a  local  grocer  and  is  on  sale  in  only  one  store 
in  the  city.  The  general  average  weight  of  all  the  1-pound  prints  found 
is  15.66  ounces,  the  general  average  shortage  thus  being  only  .34  ounces 
or  2.12  per  cent.  In  like  manner  the  2-pound  brands  average  from  cor- 
rect weight,  the  heaviest  found,  to  — 2.9  per  cent,  the  lightest.  The 
average  weight  of  this  size  is  31.54  ounces,  a  shortage  of  only  .46  ounces 
on  two  pounds,  or  1.44  per  cent.  The  general  average  shortage  of  all 
butter  sold,  the  2-pound  prints  being  subordinated  in  proportion  to  the 
fewer  prints  sold,  is  only  — 1.98  per  cent.  The  sealer  reports  that  the 
local  courts  have  made  the  prosecution  of  offenders  among  the  manu- 
facturers and  wholesalers  more  difficult  here  by  the  decision  that  the 
integrity  of  the  shipment  to  the  retailer  must  be  proven  before  convic- 
tion can  be  obtained.  Thus  when  thirty  1-pound  prints  are  billed  to  the 
retailer,  twenty-nine  prints  averaging  15  ounces  are  not  sufficient  to 
prove  that  the  shipment  was  short;  since  the  *'  1-pound  prints"  are 
decided  to  be  a  matter  of  description,  and  not  a  guarantee  of  individual 
weight.  Thus,  if  the  retailer  dispose  of  only  one  print  of  an  entire 
shipment  the  manufacturer  can  not  be  proceeded  against,  regardless  of 
the  shortages  of  the  remainder  of  the  shipment. 

It  is  reported  by  nearly  every  one  that  before  the  intervention  of  the 
local  sealer  conditions  were  very  chaotic  and  losses  were  very  great  on 
this  commodity.  In  Qrder  to  understand  how  much  has  been  accom- 
plished here  comparison  with  the  combined  cities  of  Oakland  and  San 
Francisco  will  again  be  resorted  to.  The  following  figures  are  pre- 
sented : 


City. 

Total 
number 
prints 
weighed. 

Per  cent 
of  total 
short. 

PIT  capita 
consump- 
tion, per 

year. 

Per  capita 
loss,  per 
year. 

Arerage 
weirht  <-f 
•11.  "  sold 
in  ounces 

Average 
shortage 
on  all 
butter. 

San  Francisco  and  Oakland 
Los  Angeles  --  -—  —  - 

484            89.9%           28  Ibs.       1.37  Ibs. 
349            80.5%          28  Ibs!          .55  Ibs. 

15.22               4.88% 
15.68              1.98% 

The  above  table  shows:  First,  that  12  per  cent  more  prints  are  full 
weight  here  than  in  the  combined  cities;  second,  that  the  average 
"pound"  is  3  per  cent  lighter  in  the  combined  cities;  and  third,  that 
the  per  capita  loss  is  146  per  cent  greater  in  the  combined  cities.  If  we 
assume  that  the  population  here  is  300,000  and  that  nine  tenths  of  the 
people  buy  butter  in  print  form,  and  that  the  average  price  is  35  cents 
per  pound,  we  find  from  accepted  figures  that  the  loss  here  amounts  to 
about  $50,000  per  year.  Were  conditions  similar  to  those  existing  in  the 
combined  cities  (and  there  is  no  good  reason  to  believe  that  conditions 
were  not  dissimilar  in  the  past ;  statements  of  merchants  further  favor- 
ing this  conclusion)  this  loss  would  amount  to  more  than  $125,000  per 
year.  And  thus  it  appears  that  the  annual  saving  to  the  people  of  the 
city  in  this  one  commodity  alone  on  account  of  the  inspection  service  is 
some  $75,000.  Conversely,  the  people  of  the  combined  cities  are  yearly 
losing,  on  account  of  neglect  to  establish  such  an  inspection  service. 


—  29  — 

some  $140,000  yearly.  This  figure  assumes  that  no  better  conditions 
would  follow  than  have  already  resulted  here,  although  we  believe  that 
these  figures  are  susceptible  of  improvement  and  will  show  improve- 
ment in  the  future.  That  the  saving  is  actual  and  not  theoretical  is 
further  proven  by  the  fact  that  the  price  of  butter  here  and  in  San 
Francisco  and  Oakland  seems  to  be  identical;  notwithstanding  the  dif- 
ference in  weights  delivered. 

Another  large  good  effected  is  the  putting  of  all  companies  on  a  fair 
basis  of  competition,  since  miscellaneous  sizes  have  largely  been  elim- 
inated; and  thus  the  consumer  is  able  to  judge  quality  and  price 
directly.  An  exception  is  found  in  the  case  of  one  brand  only,  this 
being  found  on  sale  in  13  and  26  ounces  prints.  The  weight  was  con- 
siderably greater  in  this  case  and  consequently  this  brand  has  not  been 
tabulated. 

Shortly  after  the  office  of  sealer  was  established  here,  tests  were  made 
on  the  milk  bottles  in  use.  A  large  number  of  short  bottles  were  discov- 
ered at  that  time  (it  is  reported  that  those  used  by  one  firm  were  short 
about  20  per  cent)  and  these  were  put  out  of  use.  The  question  of  test- 
ing this  class  of  apparatus  was  taken  into  the  courts  and  it  was  then  held 
by  the  local  court  that  the  milk  bottle  was  not  a  measure,  but  a  con- 
tainer, and  did  not  come  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  sealer  on  this 
account.  Since  this  decision,  which,  we  believe,  is  not  an  equitable  one, 
but  a  few  tests  have  been  made  here.  The  tests  made  at  the  time  of  this 
report  show  that  the  majority  of  the  excessively  short  bottles  have  been 
withdrawn  from  use.  The  great  majority  of  the  bottles  are  slightly 
short,  however,  especially  the  smaller  sizes  in  which  cream  is  usually 
sold. 

Taking  as  a  standard  the  allowances  made  in  the  laws  of  New  York 
State,  which  are  plus  or  minus  2  drams  on  one  half  pint,  plus  or  minus 
3  drams  on  one  pint  and  plus  or  minus  4  drams  on  one  quart,  we  find 
that  all  the  quarts  tested  are  correct ;  87  per  cent  of  the  pints  are  cor- 
rect, while  the  remainder  are  short  from  — 3.5  per  cent  to  — 4.3  per 
cent  (allowance  2.3  per  cent)  ;  while  but  57  per  cent  of  the  half  pints 
are  correct.  Eighty-three  per  cent  of  the  faulty  bottles  are  short, 
ranging  from  —  3.4  per  cent  to  —  5.2  per  cent  (allowance  3.1  per 
cent). 

The  above  data,  we  believe,  indicates  that  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  is 
in  quite  a  satisfactory  condition,  and  when  it  is  considered  that  the 
sealer  here  has  been  working  without  any  cooperation  from  other  sec- 
tions the  results  obtained  must  be  considered  excellent.  How  large  the 
saving  is  which  is  being  effected  in  various  branches  of  business  is  indi- 
cated by  this  report  and  the  additional  saving  on  bulk  commodities  such 
as  wood  and  coal,  the  sale  of  which  could  not  be  efficiently  checked  by 
your  inspector,  must  also  be  enormous.  This  may  be  indicated  by  the 
report  of  the  sealer  that  fourteen  out  of  thirty-seven  large  wagon  scales 
had  to  be  completely  rebuilt  after  the  first  test  made  here,  before  accu- 
racy could  be  obtained. 

The  above  data  is  the  most  excellent  argument  in  favor  of  weights 
and  measures  inspection  which  can  be  secured.  And  the  passage  of  the 
legislation  already  introduced  making  this  possible  throughout  the 
state,  and  of  the  constitutional  amendment  which  will  render  possible 
a  compulsory  inspection  supervised  by  state  authority  is  urged  on  this 
account.  The  constitutional  amendment  will  also  make  possible  State 
laws  upon  the  sale  of  package  goods,  print  butter,  etc.,  which  we  believe 


—  30  — 


will  do  m:n-h  to  reduce  the  high  cost  of  living  existing  at  th«-  }" 
time. 

PRINT    111    MTU    T.MII.K. 


Averaging  in  7  prints  Isleton  at  —7.1%,  general  average  is  —5.41%. 

General  avcrairr  p<>r  cont  shortng<>  of  all  print  butter,  —5.87. 

*Average  shortage,  including  l">  prints  "Isleton  Brand,"  very  commonly  sold 


Brand. 

8120. 

Total. 

Number. 

Full 
weight. 

Light 

weight. 

Average 
weight. 

ounces. 

Error*—  j 
Ounces. 

kW*f«. 

r-  •   •  ' 

American   -                        

1-lb 

6 

2 

4 

8.88 

-     .12 

Miscellaneous 

i-lb 

7 

3.06 

—     .92 

—  B. 

Rexford 

|-lb. 

3 

8 

3.63 

—     .37 

—  t.l 

Totals 

16 

2 

14 

88 

3.48 

\verage  shortage  of  prints 

—    .52 

-13. 

O    C    D    Brand 

i-lb 

g 

8 

7.88 

.62 

-       -   s 

Rexford 

J-lb. 

2 

2 

7.22 

—    .78 

-9.7 

Miscellaneous          . 

6 

6 

6.65 

-  1.35 

-17.0 

Totals                       

16 

16 

100 

7.00 

\vrrage  shortage  of  prints 

.91 

VnuM'ican 

l-lb 

12 

1 

11 

15.43 

—    .57 

' 

\ 

Mb. 

6 

6 

I".''. 

—  2.4 

-15. 

Rexford 

1-lb 

6 

6 

14  54 

1.4« 

-  9.1 

D    Brand 

1-lb. 

18 

1 

17 

15.61 

—    .89 

I 

<':ilifornla  Cream    _    

1-lb. 

5 

5 

14.14 

—  1.86 

Oakland  Market  Creamery 

1-lb 

g 

g 

14  33 

—  l.«7 

Monarch 

Mb. 

5 

2 

8 

16.77 

1 

i  'arilic 

1-lb 

1 

1 

15.5 

—    .5 

—  S.I 

--                   - 

Totals         -.    .. 

01 

4 

57 

Per  cent  of  prints  short  _ 

-•    98 

:  i  •>• 

Average  shortage  of  prints*— 

1    !i:i  Mi'llge 

13-lb 

5 



5 

26  82 

-1.0 
—  1.18 

—  •.a 

—  4.1 

Hnx.ksi.lr         

13-lb. 

4 

1 

3 

27.74 

-  :* 

n 

;  Onrland  

IS-lb. 

4 

4 

26.38 

—  1.62 

—  6.1 

Totals         

18 

1 

12 

n 

27.88 

LTI'  shortage  of  prints 

l.OS 

—  S  7 

<>!ikl«nd   Market  Crcnm  
O    C.  D.  Brand  . 

2-lb. 
2-lb. 

8 

7 

8 

29.62 
SO  04 

-*.«. 

—      06 

- 
S  X 

Onllfornia  Cr.       

2-lb. 

5 

!•:»  H 

—     .68 

—  8.4 

Hunil>oldt 

2-lb 

7 

7 

30  16 

—      84 

—  6  8 

Brand  "A" 

2-lb. 

r, 

r> 

BO  IB 

.11 

—  8  5 

K..rt   Sutter  
Superior  _  _. 

Kuoina      __       _      .__ 

Mb. 
2-lb. 
2-lb. 

5 
5 
4 



6 
5 

4 

::...::•• 
::'.!•- 
29.53 

—     .08 

—      47 

—  8.4 

—  7  7 

\  <>od 

4 

4 

4  ] 

keel   O<>\cr 

4 

4 

—      50 

Rt-vford        _       

2-lb. 

| 

9 

:'.n  -,, 

—  5  4 

\in«'ri«'an 

2-lb 

3 

n  •; 

Miscellaneous 

2-lb. 

6 

—       ^9 

anos 

2-lb. 

1 

2f> 

. 

Vall.'v 

2-lb 

8 

—      89 

. 

Pacific      

2-lb. 

| 

2 

•"•  -.: 

—  °  '<:i 

Mon  arcli 

2-lb 

1 

I 

30  84 

1  16 

Totals          

76 

1 

«t  of  prints  short  

—98  7 

Average  weight  of  prints  

30.32 

.  \\<>rai,ro  shortage  of  prints... 

—  l.rf, 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  tables  that  tho  lmtt<-r 
are  very  chaotic  and  result  in  oven  more  loss  to  tlio  consumer  H. 
San  Francisco.  The  brands  sold  here  have  seldom  been  found  in  th. 
latter  city,  only  one  or  two  of  the  brands  weighed  there  beinjr  found  m 
sale  here.  In  order  to  obtain  a  fair  preneral  average  a  few  prim.s  •, 
these  brands  have  been  included  in  tlie  summaries.  A  new  ^./,-  prjn 
was  discovered  here  which  has  resulted,  wo  believe,  from  continual  cut 


—  31  — 


ting  of  the  weight  of  an  original  two-pound  print.  This  is  the  pound 
and  three  quarters  print  which  is  occasionally  found.  This  is  billed  as  1-J 
pounds  by  the  wholesaler,  but  is  sold  by  the  retailer  as  a  " print"  with- 
out statement  of  weight.  The  consumer  undoubtedly  often  considers 
that  two  pounds  of  butter  are  being  furnished,  and  thus  manufacturers 
of  this  size  have  an  unfair  advantage  since  the  butter  is  apparently 
cheaper  in'  price.  As  it  does  not  cause  a  large  loss  to  the  consumer, 
however,  on  account  of  the  reduction  in  price  referred  to,  the  shortages 
have  been  tabulated  with  1J  pounds  taken  as  the  basis  in  this  case.  It 
is  found  that  this  size  is  already  being  furnished  short  in  weight.  Thus, 
the  three  brands  of  this  size  on  which  figures  have  been  obtained  show 
;iverage  shortages  of  .9  per  cent,  which  is  nearly  full  weight,  4.2  per  cent 
and  5.1  per  cent  short,  respectively.  The  same  discrepancies  between 
! .rands  and  the  impossibility  of  honest  competition  exist  here  as  have 
been  described  in  San  Francisco.  The  loss  to  the  average  consumer  is 
•  •vcn  larger,  as  heretofore  pointed  out.  Thus,  the  average  shortages  on 
.ill  sixths  and  brands  found  here  is  5.87  per  cent.  Taking  as  a  basis 
that  the  population  is  150,000;  that  90  per  cent  of  the  butter  is  sold  in 
this  form  :  and  that  an  average  price  is  35  cents  per  pound,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  tin*  people  of  Oakland  are  losing  more  than  $75,000  a  year 
on  this  one  eommoditv  alone. 

In  view  of  tin-  above  condition  of  the  apparatus  in  use,  the  weight  of 
1h<>  j.arka '.res  found  done  up  by  the  various  merchants  ready  for  deliv- 
ery becomes  a  matter  of  <_rreat  interest.  As  usual,  the  use  of  very  few 
of  the  scales  having  large  errors  can  be  checked  in  this  way,  since  on 
scales  the  packages  are  usually  done  up  as  ordered  and  only  for 
immediate  delivery •. 

All  the  paeka<_res  \\eiirhed  have  been  tabulated  in  the  usual  manner 
The  table  l'ollo\\ 


Commodity. 

Weight. 

1    i 

N 

umber. 

Heaviest. 

Lightest. 

At 

F 

orage. 

Errors  — 
Ounces. 

Average. 
Per  cent. 

>i 

r 

I 

1     ! 

1 

f 

Raisins 

3 

4 

f> 

— 

4 
5 

~T 

4 

1 
1 
5 

1 

15.44 

l  j  .  ;:> 
.44 
15.1? 

15.18 

2 
1 
8 
1 

13.62 
12.38 

~U~5~~ 
14.12 

i 

5 
1 

14.44 
13.8 
.22 
14.85 
14.5 
15.9 
.02 
7.28 
15.00 
6.69 

s.« 

15.03 
15.12 
16.09 
8.25 
14.38 
14.78 
15.12 

-  1.56 
•—  2.2 
+     .22 
—  1.15 
—  1.5 

1 

—    .72 
—  1.0 
-  1.31 
—  1.34 
—     .97 
—     .88 
+     .09 
-1-     .25 
—  1.62 
—  1.22 
-     .88 

—  3.3 
—  6.9 
+     .3 
—  3.6 
—  9.4 
—     .3 

—  3.3 
—  1.6 
—  4. 
—  2. 
—  6. 

+     .' 
+     . 
—  2.0 
—  3.8 
—  5.5 

Currants 

? 



5 

2 

1 

2 

^t'liiil    lx'UIl< 

o 

Pink  beans 

1 

4 

Rice       _-           

2 

3 
3 
2 

9 

1 

2 

2 

1 
2 
2 

9 

2 
2 

1 
3 

1 
1 
1 
3 

15.81 
15.94 
7.25 
14.75 

1 

! 

3 
1 
3 

Ralflillfl 

9 

.12 
7.31 
15.25 

1  iina  beans 

1 

4 

8 

Lima  beans      __  

Brown  sugar      __  . 

1 
3 
1 

6 
8 

2 
2 
4 

Brown  sugar 

.... 

2 
4 

3 

6.94 
15  06 

3 

G.38 
15. 

Cut  sugar 

Cut  sugar  _ 

R 

4 

4 
l" 

2 

"T 

15.25 
16.12 
8.5 

2 

i" 

14.88 
Ifi.OG 
8. 

2 

"3" 
5 
1 

Sago 

1 

2 
2 
1 

2 
2 

Sugar    _ 

3 
g 

8 

Sago        

Sago 

9 

9 

9 

Sago  

Tot  als 

1 



4 
51 

9 

4 
~42~ 

— 

15.25 

— 

14.94 

Average  shortage  of  packages,  —3.6  per  cent.     Per  cent  of  packages  short,  —82  per  cent 
scales  weighing  above,  3  each.  —3  per  cent  short;  1  O.  K.  (so  listed  in  table). 

Store  No.  17:  Scale  used  listed  —3  per  cent. 


hice  

I 

8 

-  — 

8 



14.18 

13.25 

13.8 

—  2.2 

—13.8 

—  32  — 


Store  No.  2:  Per  cent  of  packages  short,  —78  per  cent.    Average  shortage  of  packages,  —2.0 
per  cent. 


Commodity. 

Weight. 

Number. 

Heaviest. 

Lightest. 

Average. 

Errors—  Average. 

Pounds-  -. 

1 

Total 

wi-lKllt. 

jg 

«r 

| 

| 

3 

c 

B 

: 

Pounds  

| 

Ounces. 

Per  cent. 

rj 
Of 

" 

P 

[ 

1 

F 

Sugar    

3 

7 

8 
8 

3 

6 

9 

1 

1 

2 

2 
5 

7 

3 

7 

8.18 
9. 

3 

7 

5.69 
2.5 

3 

7 

6.52 
6.02 

—  1.48 
—  1.98 

-  2.6 
—  1.7 

Sugar      -_ 

Totals  

Store  No.  16:  Scales  listed— 1  O.K.;  1  —9  per  cent  short;  1  —3  per  cent  short.    Per  cent  of 
packages  short,  —75  per  cent.    Average  shortage  of  packages,  —8.8  per  cent. 


Tea  —  

8 

1 

1 

7  62 

—      38 

—  4  8 

Crackers  (26.67  oz.)_ 

1 

1 

l 

26.68 

O    K. 

Pepper       

2 

1 

1 

1  44 

—      56 

—  ?8 

Coffee 

1 

1 

1 

15  62 

38 

••>  4 

4 

1 

3 

Jr  ••'•»,    .  •    , 

Card  No.  19:  Condition*  of  scales— 2  O.  K.  and  1—3  per  cent.     Per  cent  of  packages  short, 
—  60  per  cent.    Average  condition  of  .packages,  —  25^^  cent. 


Sugar  1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

i 

2.25 

*» 
1 

1.75 

J 

2. 

O.  K. 

Sugar    3 

8. 

3 

7.5 

* 

7.75 

—     .25 

.5 

Card  No.  8:   Condition,  of  scale,  O.K.     Grand  totals— Per  cent  of  all  packages  short,  — 
per  cent.    Average  shortage  of  all  packages,  —4.5  per  cent. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  from  the  above  table  that  short  weight  is  here 
the  general  custom  rather  than  the  rule.  For  out  of  a  total  of  seventy- 
seven  packages  of  all  commodities  and  sizes  weighed  in  a  number  of 
different  'stores,  only  14vwl9-  per  cent,  were  full  in  weight,  the  remain- 
ing 81  pter  cent  being  short.  Ani  the  general  average  shortage  of  every 
packager  (both- full  and  light  weight  being  included)  is  4.5  per  cent. 
One  of  the  largest  stores  in  the  city,  which  is  doing  an  enormous  busi- 
ness, slrows  an  average  shortage  of  3.6  per  cent  on  all  packages;  the 
scales  shoVfryir  a  TH  a  xi-mufn  error  of  only  3  per  cent.  And  in  other  stores 
the  average  shortages  range  from  a  practically  correct  average, — 25  per 
cent  to  the  greatest  average  shortage  of  13.8  per  cent.  And  in  nearly 
every  case  the  errors  are  greater  than  the  errors  of  the  scales  in  use. 
This  not  only  shows  that  an  enormous  loss  is  beinir  borne  by  the  con- 
sumer, but  that  this  loss  can  not  be  wholly  estimated  by  the  condition 
of  the  scales  in  use,  but  that  additional  intentional  short  weight  must 
also  be  considered. 

We  believe  that  the  above  conditions  point  most  strongly  to  the  im- 
perative necessity  of  inspection  of  apparatus  and  of  the  manner  of  sale 
and  amount  of  commodities  delivered  the  consumer.  And  until  this  is 
done  the  extent  of  the  short  weight  will  undoubtedly  go  on  unchecked. 
The  passage  of  the  constitutional  amendment  and  of  legislation  already 
introduced  in  the  State  Legislature  is  again  most  strongly  urged  as  the 
most  efficient  way  in  which  the  authorities  can  remedy  the  present 
deplorable  condition. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  PINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


JAl 


!0Ct  „ 


251778 


LD  21-? 


